The Poincare Conjecture

"Donal O'Shea has written a truly marvelous book. Not only does he explain the long-unsolved, beautiful Poincare conjecture, he also makes clear how the Russian mathematician Grigory Perelman finally solved it. Around this drama O'Shea weaves a tapestry of elementary topology and astonishing concepts, such as the Ricci flow, that have contributed to Perelman's brilliant achievement. One can't read "The Poincare Conjecture "without an overwhelming awe at the infinite depths and richness of a mathematical realm not made by us."--Martin Gardner, author of "The Annotated Alice" and "Aha! Insight""The history of the Poincare conjecture is the story of one of the most important areas of modern mathematics. Donal O'Shea tells that story in a delightful and informative way--the concepts, the issues, and the people who made everything happen. I recommend it highly."--Keith Devlin, Stanford University, author of "The Millennium Problems""In "The Poincare Conjecture", Mr. O'Shea tells the fascinating story of this mathematical mystery and its solution by the eccentric Mr. Perelman . . . Mr. O'Shea does a good job of explaining the mathematics involved in solving the conjecture . . . [He] avoids cliche (we're spared the usual reference to coffee cups turning into doughnuts as an explanation of how surfaces might stretch without closing holes), and he tries to keep things lively."--"Amir D. Aczel, The Wall Street Journal"