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    The Last Theorem
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    The Last Theorem
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    The Last Theorem
    Audiobook12 hours

    The Last Theorem

    Written by Arthur C. Clarke and Frederik Pohl

    Narrated by Mark Bramhall

    3/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    Two of science fiction's most renowned writers join forces for a storytelling sensation. The historic collaboration between Frederik Pohl and his fellow founding father of the genre, Arthur C. Clarke, is both a momentous literary event and a fittingly grand farewell from the late, great visionary author of 2001: A Space Odyssey.

    The Last Theorem is a story of one man's mathematical obsession, and a celebration of the human spirit and the scientific method. It is also a gripping intellectual thriller in which humanity, facing extermination from all-but-omnipotent aliens, the Grand Galactics, must overcome differences of politics and religion and come together . . . or perish.

    In 1637, the French mathematician Pierre de Fermat scrawled a note in the margin of a book about an enigmatic theorem: "I have discovered a truly marvelous proof of this proposition which this margin is too narrow to contain." He also neglected to record his proof elsewhere. Thus began a search for the Holy Grail of mathematics-a search that didn't end until 1994, when Andrew Wiles published a 150-page proof. But the proof was burdensome, overlong, and utilized mathematical techniques undreamed of in Fermat's time, and so it left many critics unsatisfied-including young Ranjit Subramanian, a Sri Lankan with a special gift for mathematics and a passion for the famous "Last Theorem."

    When Ranjit writes a three-page proof of the theorem that relies exclusively on knowledge available to Fermat, his achievement is hailed as a work of genius, bringing him fame and fortune. But it also brings him to the attention of the National Security Agency and a shadowy United Nations outfit called Pax per Fidem, or Peace Through Transparency, whose secretive workings belie its name. Suddenly Ranjit-together with his wife, Myra de Soyza, an expert in artificial intelligence, and their burgeoning family-finds himself swept up in world-shaking events, his genius for abstract mathematical thought put to uses that are both concrete and potentially deadly.

    Meanwhile, unbeknownst to anyone on Earth, an alien fleet is approaching the planet at a significant percentage of the speed of light. Their mission: to exterminate the dangerous species of primates known as homo sapiens.


    From the Hardcover edition.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateAug 5, 2008
    ISBN9780739376959
    Unavailable
    The Last Theorem
    Author

    Arthur C. Clarke

    Born in Somerset in 1917, Arthur C. Clarke has written over sixty books, among which are the science fiction classics ‘2001, A Space Odyssey’, ‘Childhood’s End’, ‘The City and the Stars’ and ‘Rendezvous With Rama’. He has won all the most prestigious science fiction trophies, and shared an Oscar nomination with Stanley Kubrick for the screenplay of the film of 2001. He was knighted in 1998. He passed away in March 2008.

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    Reviews for The Last Theorem

    3/5

    151 ratings17 reviews

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    • 3/5
      There were a few silly assumptions for something written so recently but otherwise it is a solid read.
    • 4/5
      Really a 4.5 if I could have given it. Great book with loads of ideas being just tossed around for you to notice on the way past. It does feel a bit like the two of them have just thrown everything into this and there's bits that seem a bit more "adventure yarn" than classic Clarke, so I'm guessing that must be Pohl's influence as I've not read much of his work. Anyway, definitely worth a read.
    • 3/5
      Given the pedigree of the two authors, I was expecting a lot more from this book. I just couldn't buy into the whole "world-famous mathematician whose childhood best friend is a major UN figure and whose daughter is a world class athlete and whose niece (or cousin, or something; I'm not entirely sure) is a world class doctor" mode of moving the plot forward.
    • 3/5
      I'm not going to review this, but I will say that other than a lame ending, I found it entertaining. It has several funny bits and some light commentary on humanity.
    • 2/5
      Ranjit Subramanian er en virkelig god matematiker. Han har som mål at finde et kort bevis for Fermats sidste sætning - som titlen antyder. Han bliver involveret i et hemmeligt våbenprogram, som bliver aktuelt da jorden bliver invaderet af rumvæsener, der er ude på at udrydde alt liv.Undervejs følger vi hans livsbane, hvor han starter som 16-årig på et universitetsstudie, hacker sig ind på en undervisers konto for at kunne downloade artikler og bestille bøger om Fermat, bliver opdaget og tilgivet, møder en sød pige, er barnepige for nogle søde børn, hvis far er i fængsel, kommer med på en krydstogtskib, der bliver hijacket, bliver arresteret af nogle militærpersoner under en aktion hvor piraterne bliver likvideret, bliver tilbageholdt og torteret under mistanke for at være en pirat, bliver tilbageholdt i en celle i måneder, finder et kort bevis for Fermats sidste sætning, bliver befriet, får publiceret beviset og bliver berømt. Bliver gift og får børn. Bliver ansat under noget der ligner NSA. Bliver tilbudt job i noget, der ligner en verdensregering under FN med et tilsvarende politistyrke med adgang til våben der fx slår Nordkorea ud stort set uden døde til følge.Undervejs er der lidt om en udryddelsespatrulje fra The Great Galactics, som er på vej mod jorden, men handlingen er meget langt fra James Bond hastighed.Til sidst opdager rumvæsenerne at menneskene ikke skal udryddes alligevel. De rumvæsener der skulle have gjort det, slår sig i stedet ned på jorden og skaffer penge og velstand til Ægypten ved at lave strøm. En skummel oberst prøver at udrydde rumvæsnerne, men fejler totalt. Ranjits datter bliver OL-mester i luftsvømning på Månen og forsøger sig også med solsejlssejlads, men bliver snuppet af rumvæsenerne og brugt af dem til at forhøre alle de vigtigste beslutningstagere og videnskabsfolk på jorden. Til sidst dør Ranjits kone, men hun bliver heldigvis som den allerførste lagret i virtuel form.Tilsyneladende har Pohl skullet have alt hvad han ved om binær aritmetik og Fermats sidste sætning ind i bogen og Clarke har til gengæld fået rumelevatorer og Sri Lanka og verdensregering og supersmarte rumintelligenser ind i bogen.Alt i alt smager det for meget af en gryderet med mindst en kok for meget indblandet.
    • 4/5
      This is a great scifi Love story. Yes Love story wonderfully written, with all the trappings of such. It is not a a fast paced story yet it kept my attention. I would recommend this to anyone that likes to see the good in people. I do and this book did too.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      Clarke's last book, written with Fred Pohl, never'll be a classic. I'm a huge ACC fan so I hate so say this but it's simply not good enough. The majority of the book is about a young mathematician from Sri Lanka and the other, smaller and rather obscure part is about some alien civilisation(s) planning to eradicate humanity. Mix this with some naive social and political criticism and a rather embarassingly flat ending to get this book. Don't misunderstand me, it's not a BAD book. But it's not good either, not by clarkeian standards....
    • 4/5
      A pretty good science-fiction story by two masters, with ideas that Clarke has touched on in other books, such as a space elevator, sailboats in space powered by solar winds, and nearly omniscient and omnipotent alien races sending emissaries to Earth to check up on these strange and violent images spreading across the galaxy from our neck of the woods. The main part of the story takes place in a fictional island country very similar to Clarke's adopted Sri Lanka. Clarke seldom delves into human romances in his stories. I learned about his bisexuality in his autobiography, and the short reference to an episode involving the main character as a young man, and his best friend, may reflect encouragement by Frederick Pohl to Clarke to finally in his writing touch upon aspects of human behavior he has avoided till now. It was nice to see Clarke loosen up a little.
    • 3/5
      The Last Theorem stands at the opposite end of the 'Earth under attack' spectrum to Independence Day. Several strands are weaved together, albeit discordantly initially, where character development is somewhat padded. The aliens are well conceptualized, portrayed in a distant manner, not meant to be understood. Humanity however is readily described; our failures all to apparent. We are self-destructive and Clarke and Pohl balance our quest for understanding against our desire to control. After the shaky start the two main elements create an interesting, although not riveting, read. The future tech is interesting although mostly subtle, the mathematics a low-key propellant, both ensuring the story is not bogged down in complexity. The Last Theorem is not a Clarke classic and it stands alone as a short and interesting novel.
    • 4/5
      I thought this book was all over the place. I enjoyed it and read til the end, but, there were times when it did quantum leaps in regard to the story line and I couldn't follow. Large portions of the lives of the principles were skipped over more than lightly. It all tied together nicely in the end, but, I almost abandoned it midway.
    • 4/5
      Grand vision, but well done.
    • 1/5
      An incredibly poor written book -- extremely juvenille and without any credible plot.Whoever could imagine an EMP going off over an entire nation and only having a handful of fatalities? Yes, it would be wonderful Natasha if we could all be among the chosen among Earth not once but twice. Building LEO spacecraft and then having amateurs "race" them -- how absolutely ludicrous.
    • 1/5
      What has happened to science fiction? The mainstay of my teenage reading, I marvelled at the soaring intellects that showed how technology and science can make us gods or devils. I travelled in a universe (in many universes!) where to be alive was often a multiple-choice question and where the human race (me, actually) could interact with anything and everything.How the mighty are fallen! What were Clarke and Pohl thinking of when they wrote (and I think it is called ‘writing’ in some universes) ‘The Last Theorem’? Let me summarise this book: a guy thinks of something that makes him famous so he can travel around and be rich; meanwhile, aliens come to destroy the Earth (their motivation unrelated to our hero), but change their minds at the last minute and we all live happily together with humans eventually ruling the universe.Am I missing something? Is this post-modern fiction, or ironic, or something I don’t understand? Fiction as an extract from ‘Hello’ magazine? I kept waiting for his to start and to go somewhere, to get to the heart of the story, and suddenly I had finished it.They may be old-hat, but you alwys know where you are with a ray-gun.
    • 4/5
      A solid work of mainstream fiction disguised by an alien invasion McGuffin.
    • 5/5
      Arthur C. Clarke is the best science fiction writer because he has so much science in the stories he writes. There is always something to think about. His imaginative writing, his science background and education have both contributed to his suggestions for great ideas. In this book the story is about solving continual wars on the planet. His hero is a mathematian from Sri Lanka and the hero's wife, an artificial intlligence specialist. The book is slow to engage one's interest but after a couple of chapters, I read all night. His stories have emotional appeal as well as intelligent stimulating ideas.
    • 4/5
      Another great book - his last. If you're an ACC fan you'll love this. I haven't read any F Pohl - but they are the same vintage - so i'm nor sure of his impact on the book - it seemed very ACC to me. Based in Sri Lanka - his home - the story brings together a lot of sci fi theories. Its an easy and entertaining read.
    • 3/5
      The Last Theorem is the aptly-named final work of fiction from the late Sir Arthur C. Clarke.I approached this book with feelings of genuine trepidation. The appearance of the movie version of 2001: A Space Odyssey and Clarke’s novelisation of the screenplay marked the start of my life-long love affair with science fiction that continues unabated to this day. I found and then devoured everything I could - Clarke, Asimov, Poul Anderson, Simak, Schmitz are all authors I remember fondly from those early days of my discovery of the field of SF. (For some reason, I was not initially enamoured of Heinlein – though my younger brother was as I recall: he too had acquired the SF bug a year or so after me).But Clarke was the first: he set the initial standard and direction of my SF reading and collecting, and hence in a very real way is directly responsible for how I’ve approached the field since. I hadn’t read a new Clarke novel since about 2061: Odyssey Three – the exigencies of what I’m now calling the Full Childcare Paying Years curtailed my SF collecting quite dramatically for a time, and reduced available reading time markedly in the process. So coming to this, his final novel, was quite nerve-wracking: how would it stand up to the test of memory? How would it compare with seminal works such as 2001, A Fall Of Moondust, Childhood’s End, Against The Fall Of Night and so on?The book is a collaboration with Frederick Pohl, with Pohl apparently doing the writing from a hundred or so pages of Clarke’s notes supplemented by email conversations and answers to queries being provided, where possible, by Clarke (the book apparently had been intended to be completed some years before, but Clarke’s health deteriorated to the point where could not do the actual writing. As well, some of the notes apparently could not be deciphered or interpreted because Clarke had forgotten their original intent or meaning.)The book is the life story of Ranjit Subramanian – his trials, tribulations and his successes. Ranjit is a young Sri Lankan teenager, a college freshman. We meet him as he is about to get into conflict with his father, and follow his life along through some harrowing experiences until he settles into a role where he just might help save the world from both alien invasion cum destruction and geo-politically induced disaster.Ranjit seems to muddle through life in some ways – he’s not unsophisticated but he certainly can seem naïve. He reminds me of my Asperger Syndrome daughters, in his sudden and total absorption in the things that interest him – the theory of numbers, particularly Fermat’s Last Theorem, and astronomy. This is not a throw away comment btw, GSSM syndrome as a possible cause of Attention Deficit Disorder is discussed briefly early in the book.The book includes in one way or another, by direct reference or by implication, mention of almost every major idea or trope used by Clarke in his earlier works as well as, and I think this is key to coming to an understanding of the book, many of the aspects of Clarke’s personal life that are either on the public record or are subject to wide-spread speculation. His love of diving, his quiet life in Sri Lanka (there is even an unnamed reference to himself as the famous writer who almost never leaves his house), his work with radar in WWII, the geosynchronous satellite and so on all appear.An ungenerous assessment of the book could see it as some form of grand wish fulfillment trip. Does Ranjit gets the surrogate life that Sir Arthur C Clarke wanted for himself? We’ll now never know.Did I enjoy it? Did I hate it? Neither - in the end. It had the right sort of ‘voice’ I remembered from Clarke’s earlier books and it started strongly. It engaged me as a reader reasonably well until about a third of the way in when it seemed that the wheels started to fall off. It finished almost predictably after having essentially unraveled from that point on, almost seeming to revert to a sequence of set pieces to ensure that things got ticked off a list: skyhook – check; light sails – check; and so on.However, such an assessment I think would be unduly harsh: it could also be considered as a final layout of his record of ideas – a statement of what and how things could have been different in this world rather than what actually happened during his lifetime. This might be the better way to appreciate the book and a better way to remember Sir Arthur and his accomplishments both.I for one will not forget the lesson he first taught me forty years ago - look at the world through a sense of wonder, and you’ll continue to be astonished at what you see around you.