Title: Prime Obsession: Bernhard Riemann and the Greatest Unsolved Problem in Mathematics
Author: John Derbyshire
Publisher: Joseph Henry Press, 2003
Pages: 361

I've read about Riemann Hypothesis for years, but only as far as the history goes. It wasn't until this book that I began to consider to get my hands dirty and try to understand what the hypothesis really says.

So this book is split into two parts: odd chapters for technical stuff; even chapters for historical background. The idea is that you can skip the odd chapters if you're only interested in the history; or skip the even chapters if you're only interested in the math. As we advance through the book, however, I found this distinction blurred, so you might as well read the whole book.

Overall, this is a very gentle introduction to Riemann Hypothesis. We start with infinite series and prime numbers, then things become more challenging. If you are not a mathematician or you haven't done math in a while but you happened to enjoy math back at school, this book will suit you. But if you want complete history and biography of the people around this hypothesis, I would recommend The Music of The Primes.

Reading John Derbyshire's Prime Obsession and playing around with Python library matplotlib for a course project brought me to plotting Riemann zeta function. The function is defined as follows:

where s is a complex variable, thus s = a + bi. The real part of s, denoted by Re(s), is a; while the imaginary part, denoted by Im(s), is b.

Python library mpmath has implemented this function in zeta and zetazero. Here is an example of the function plot in the complex plane with Re(s) in the range [-10,10] and Im(s) in the range [-5,35]:

 >>> from mpmath import zeta, cplot  
 >>> cplot(zeta,[-10,10],[-5,35])  

• ζ(s) = v
• Re(s) = 1/2
• Im(s) in the range [0.1,50]
• Re(v) = x
• Im(v) = y

I plot the function value on 2D plane in this movie according to the growth of Im(s).

 import matplotlib.pyplot as plt  
 from numpy import arange  
 from mpmath import zeta  
   
 X = []  
 Y = []  
   
 for t in arange(0.1,50,0.1):  
      v = zeta(complex(0.5,t))  
      X.append(v.real)  
      Y.append(v.imag)  
   
 fig = plt.figure()  
 ax = fig.add_subplot(111)  
 ax.plot(X,Y)
 ax.set_xlabel("Re(v)")
 ax.set_ylabel("Im(v)")  
 plt.show()  

Sketched from the cover of this book.

Hey there, dragon! I don't know your name (yet), and I'm still wondering which of the following is the best way to find out:

1. Buy a paperback edition in the nearest bookstore here,
2. Buy a paperback edition from Amazon with a couple of other books on my wish list,
3. Wait for the translated edition and buy it in Indonesia, since my other books from this cycle are in Indonesian,
4. Buy a Kindle edition now, since Option 3 can be a long wait, or,
5. Option 4 + Option 3, since I'm curious now and I want to complete my collection later.

Oh well, to be honest I don't even remember what happened in the previous books. Eragon is the first and I reread it a few times, but the only thing I remember from Eldest and Brisingr is that they were lame. And there has been such a long gap between Brisingr and this final book that I completely forgot about this series.

But still, now that the final is here, I can't wait to find out.

#1 - The Final Empire

Final Empire: suatu masa di mana abu berjatuhan dari langit, tanaman berwarna coklat, dan kaum skaa (rakyat jelata) diperbudak. Selama seribu tahun, Lord Ruler memegang kekuasaan mutlak. Adalah Kelsier, tawanan Lord Ruler yang berhasil melarikan diri, yang kemudian merekrut orang-orang berbakat demi menggulingkan kekuasaan Lord Ruler. Salah satu orang yang dipilih Kelsier adalah Vin, seorang gadis 16 tahun dengan masa lalu yang kelam. Vin beranggapan siapapun yang ditemuinya hanya akan berkhianat.

Satu hal yang membedakan buku ini dengan seri fantasi lainnya adalah sistem sihirnya. Di sini sihir dilakukan bukan dengan mantra-mantra gaib, melainkan dengan membakar logam. Orang-orang yang memiliki kekuatan untuk membakar logam disebut Allomancer. Allomancer memiliki tingkatan-tingkatannya. Tingkatan paling tinggi adalah Mistborn, yaitu mereka yang bisa membakar semua jenis logam, seperti Kelsier dan Vin.

Saya harus bilang bahwa buku ini dimulai dengan epik sekali. Di setiap bab ada sedikit catatan harian seseorang yang dikatakan sebagai Hero of Ages. Hubungan antara catatan harian ini dengan kisah yang sedang berjalan baru diketahui belakangan. Nah, saya sukaaa sekali dengan bagian catatan harian yang agak melankolis ini.

Sometimes, I worry that I’m not the hero everyone thinks I am.

Di sini kita juga akan melihat sedikit romance antara Vin dan Elend Venture, seorang nobleman yang bersimpati atas nasib para skaa. Romance-nya diceritakan dengan agak datar, sesuai selera saya :D. Si Elend ini sangat adorable dan, uh, sebut saja: memiliki kualitas yang tidak mungkin dimiliki pria-pria di dunia nyata :D

Yang saya kurang suka dari buku ini adalah pertarungannya yang diceritakan dengan terlalu detil. Agak bosan. Lalu, Sanderson sering sekali menggunakan kata "frown". In this book, everyone frowned. Namun kesimpulannya, sebagai pembuka trilogi, buku ini sangat memukau dan bikin ketagihan.

Poin: 4/5

#2 - The Well of Ascension

Lord Ruler berhasil digulingkan dari tahtanya, Final Empire berganti menjadi New Empire, dan Elend diangkat menjadi kaisar. Namun, tidak semua pihak mengakui kekuasaan yang baru ini. Elend, Vin, dan kawan-kawan harus mengantisipasi serangan dari berbagai pihak yang ingin mengambilalih kekuasaan.

Di buku kedua ini, saya merasa tidak banyak yang diceritakan. There's nothing really fresh here. Seiring dengan kemunculannya yang semakin sering, saya jadi tidak terlalu antusias lagi dengan Elend. Vin sudah menjadi Mistborn yang sangat powerful, tapi masih penuh curiga. Hubungan keduanya sungguh, uh, hambar. Saya tidak suka romance, but seeing how they acted, it's hard to believe that they are a couple.

Di sini diceritakan bahwa ternyata penulis catatan harian di buku sebelumnya adalah seseorang bernama Alendi, yang ternyata bukanlah the Hero of Ages. Di buku ini tidak ada lagi catatan harian Alendi, tetapi berganti dengan catatan orang lain yang tidak terlalu melankolis :(. This is still enjoyable, tapi tidak ada yang benar-benar baru di sini.

Poin: 3.5/5

#3 - The Hero of Ages

Di akhir buku kedua, Elend berhasil bertahan hidup dengan menjadi Mistborn. Vin masuk perangkap dan secara tidak sengaja melepaskan kekuatan gelap bernama Ruin. Dunia berubah. Semakin banyak hujan abu. Kabut mulai muncul di siang hari dan menyerang orang-orang. Muncullah pertanyaan: siapakah the Hero of Ages yang akan menyelamatkan dunia?

Er, I don't really know what to say about this book. For an ending of the trilogy, I was expecting something epic. Namun kenyataannya, saya merasa diseret perlahan-lahan saat membaca buku ini. Alurnya lambat dan banyak sekali repetisi. Sudut pandangnya berubah-ubah dari satu tokoh ke tokoh lain, dan sering kali saya merasa banyak cerita yang kurang relevan satu sama lain. Di akhir cerita, dunia baik-baik saja, syukurlah. Saya yang kecewa, huhu. Such a disappointing final.

Poin: 2/5

I just watched the movie Cinema Paradiso. It was okay, the friendship was beautiful, and I can see why people call it a classic. But what's so touching about this movie is... the music.

It's that kind of music that gives you goosebumps and leaves you feeling a bit more melancholic.

Does it break my heart, of course, every moment of every day, into more pieces than my heart was made of, I never thought of myself as quiet, much less silent, I never thought about things at all, everything changed, the distance that wedged itself between me and my happiness wasn't the world, it wasn't the bombs and burning buildings, it was me, my thinking, the cancer of never letting go, is ignorance bliss, I don't know, but it's so painful to think, and tell me, what did thinking ever do for me, to what great place did thinking ever bring me? I think and think and think, I've thought myself out of happiness one million times, but never once into it.

- Jonathan Safran Foer - Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

A rainy day in Gjøvik. It was so beautiful and depressing at the same time.

Is there anything more beautiful than the sun? I often watch it rise, for my restless sleep usually awakens me before dawn.

Each time I see its calm yellow light peeking above the horizon, I grow a little more determined, a little more hopeful. In a way, it is the thing that has kept me going all this time.

- Brandon Sanderson - Mistborn I: The Final Empire

Sketched from this photo, taken just a few steps from my home.