I cant believe I actually spent $16 on this book. I picked it up impulsively, after seeing the words "# 1 National Best Seller" on it. Those words should actually have been a good indication that the book would be a bummer. Apparently the average reader's taste in US of A is bad, and being a best seller means it is going to read something like Sidney Sheldon, whose books unfortunately I cannot bring myself to be interested in.
I slept a number of times while reading it, not because of lack of action, but because all of it seemed so contrived and stupid. The first two pages were a clear indication that this was a book that was intended for people who had not studied enough algebra. The first page had the title "Irregular Equations" and explained what linear equations were, complete with an example : 3x - 9 = 0 has the root x = 3. Apparently this was part of a very advanced book that Ms. Lisbeth Salander (the main character of the book) was reading. Lisbeth Salander apparently likes very very advanced math (such as linear equations and slightly more advanced algebra such as (a+b)^2 = a^2 + 2ab + b^2), is a chess grandmaster, a boxing champion, a star hacker, and of course, although she looks pathetic, manages to attract every male she comes in contact with.
I might have bought the character if the advanced math was not made so pathetic. At least the author could have chosen second order differential equations or some such thing... that might have made it appear a little less stupid. Worse, the author goes on to hint at the later half of the book that she comes up with a solution to Fermat's last theorem - without of course, giving any kind of hints on what exactly the her sketch of the problem might have been. And of course, she had only worked on it for about a month or so, and she arrived independently at the solution that had taken poor Mr. Andrew Wiles 25 years to get to. Monster brain.
Next time, I will make sure I stay resolutely away from #1 National Best Sellers.
Btw... I noticed today that most movies portray math in a similar fashion. They use things that appear complicated to them, and it ends up looking stupid to somebody who has been through grad school.
