Mathematics without Apologies

Michael Harris is professor of mathematics at the Universite Paris Diderot and Columbia University. He is the author or coauthor of more than seventy mathematical books and articles, and has received a number of prizes, including the Clay Research Award, which he shared in 2007 with Richard Taylor.

Preface ix Acknowledgments xix Part I 1 Chapter 1. Introduction: The Veil 3 Chapter 2. How I Acquired Charisma 7 Chapter alpha. How to Explain Number Theory at a Dinner Party 41 (First Session: Primes) 43 Chapter 3. Not Merely Good, True, and Beautiful 54 Chapter 4. Megaloprepeia 80 Chapter ss. How to Explain Number Theory at a Dinner Party 109 (Second Session: Equations) 109 Bonus Chapter 5. An Automorphic Reading of Thomas Pynchon's Against the Day (Interrupted by Elliptical Reflections on Mason & Dixon) 128 Part II 139 Chapter 6. Further Investigations of the Mind-Body Problem 141 Chapter ss.5. How to Explain Number Theory at a Dinner Party 175 (Impromptu Minisession: Transcendental Numbers) 175 Chapter 7. The Habit of Clinging to an Ultimate Ground 181 Chapter 8. The Science of Tricks 222 Part III 257 Chapter gamma. How to Explain Number Theory at a Dinner Party 259 (Third Session: Congruences) 259 Chapter 9. A Mathematical Dream and Its Interpretation 265 Chapter 10. No Apologies 279 Chapter delta. How to Explain Number Theory at a Dinner Party 311 (Fourth Session: Order and Randomness) 311 Afterword: The Veil of Maya 321 Notes 327 Bibliography 397 Index of Mathematicians 423 Subject Index 427