Reviews of "Prime Obsession"

Date of review	Periodical	Reviewer	Representative quote
May 2006	The American Mathematical Monthly	Jeffrey Nunemacher	"I feel greater enthusiasm for Derbyshire’s book, which also captures this excitement and which can be read profitably by any serious reader with a grasp of calculus. I suggest that you read it yourself and recommend it to your students and colleagues."
March 2005	American Journal of Physics	Mark P. Silverman	"Derbyshire has written an absorbing account of an extraordinary mathematician whose epochal works, even in the purest mathematical realms, illuminate the conceptual recesses of the physical world."
December 22, 2004	Slashdot.com	"jkauzlar"	"John Derbyshire gives a virtuoso performance as an informed journalist and maintains his stance as a personable and careful guide through a sometimes difficult terrain."
June 2004	Physics Today	Jonathan P. Keating	"Derbyshire's remarkable book is, in my view, a gem."
June 2004	Wired	Jeff Raskin	"This is one of the best mathematical biographies I've read – and I've read a lot."
Winter 2004	Mathematical Intelligencer	Harold M. Edwards	"He has written a wonderful book. He does not fudge the mathematics..."
October 3, 2003	Science (this is a PDF file)	Brian Conrey	"John Derbyshire has produced a remarkably accessible and deeply researched description of this fascinating problem."
August 19, 2003	MAA Online Reviews	Sidney Graham	"[T]hose who know and love ζ(s) will see a familiar story entertainingly told, and they will also see a few new sides of our multifaceted and mysterious friend."
August 17, 2003	The Washington Times	Raymond Petersen	"John Derbyshire's Prime Obsession is an intellectual tour de force and an excellent read."
August 2003	Science Books & Films	[No byline]	"A high school math club or advanced math class could have fun with this book."
July/August 2003	American Scientist	Enrico Bombieri	"[T]he author has succeeded in writing a very readable and interesting book."
July 28, 2003	National Review	David Gelernter	"Prime Obsession is, in short, a learned man's labor of love. And the learned man is a brilliant writer into the deal. Such books don't crop up every day. It must have been a daunting project to think about, and killingly hard to do. It is our good luck that he did it anyway."
July 12, 2003	The Economist	[No byline]	"Mr Derbyshire makes a valiant attempt at explaining the mathematical ideas around the problem. His historical chapters link mathematical developments to the lives and personalities of the mathematicians involved and are full of interesting stories. "
July 27, 2003	Letter from me to the Editor of the New York Times		To the Editor: I am obliged to you for the generous review of my book "Prime Obsession" (July 6). The review is, however, mistaken in saying that "Louis de Branges of Purdue University is unmentioned by Derbyshire." I mention de Branges on page 383, in a footnote. John Derbyshire Huntington, NY
July 6, 2003	The New York Times	James Alexander	"[A] reader not willing to go with the mathematics will miss Derbyshire's intent. Conversely, the reader willing to work through Derbyshire's presentation will understand something of Riemann's insights."
June 18, 2003	The New York Sun	Eric Wolff	"John Derbyshire’s passion for his subject transforms unfamiliar and difficult material into a genuinely enjoyable and enlightening experience. Isn’t that why we read?"
June 15, 2003	Los Angeles Times	Ben Yandell	"Energetic and conversational, [the book] puts one at ease. In even-numbered chapters he gives a historical overview and biographical sketches of Riemann and those who followed him, while in odd-numbered chapters his mathematical exposition is clear. Derbyshire occasionally sideswipes calculus but usually succeeds in avoiding it. ... Derbyshire's attempt to take non-mathematicians into this subject had me on the edge of my seat. Was he really going to introduce Möbius inversions in polite company? He did, and I found his treatment, and his chutzpah, consistently interesting. His account of what has happened in the last 30 years is sure-footed and perceptive."
May 4, 2003	Washington Post	Michael Dirda	"Yet like, for example, Charles Rosen's studies of the classical and romantic tradition in music, award-winning works that are replete with specialized terminology and musical notation, these books will reward the effort paid to them, though the most demanding, and for that reason most rewarding, is probably Derbyshire's."
May 2003	Popular Science	Greg Mone	"At the close of his difficult but rewarding book, Derbyshire concludes that this proof remains a long way off..."
May 2003	Scientific American	Kristin Leutweyler	"Parts of Prime Obsession read almost like a novel, others like a mathematical text. Its author, Derbyshire, segmented the book so that most of the math falls into odd chapters and the history and biographical material in even ones, but the math is as interesting as the rest."
April 2003	The New Criterion	James Franklin	"...Derbyshire is a talented expositor determined to make the reader understand some serious mathematics."