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Rating: Sometimes in life, you might be lucky enough to walk into a bookstore and find a booklet with an enticing title, containing one of the deepest analyses of human misery ever written. A dense journey that, starting from a still unresolved mathematical conjecture, reaches the meaning of original sin. And all in 100 pages and for just a few euros.
Here, Apostolos Doxiadis tells us the (partly true) story of his (stupid) fascinating uncle Petros, a genius in mathematics who, due to unbridled ambition, prematurely ended a career destined for greatness.
The affable Petros narrates in the first person his journey, with his spectacular excuses – above all, Godel’s "incompleteness theorem" – vainly attempting to mask the presumption of having believed he could go where no one else had ever gone before. A miserable presumption hidden behind his adorable kindness.
The predestined could have made his life a success. But he chose to destroy his talent in his impossible mission. He should have emulated Ishmael; he chose to emulate Ahab. And Goldbach's conjecture was the whale that crushed him.
His sin was, as usual, pride. The same pride that stopped him from admitting the guilt to himself. A guilt he took to the grave.
An unforgettable read to learn to moderate our ambitions but also to learn to view with a pinch of cynicism the failed megalomaniacs who, with their gentle smile, try to prepare us for the disappointments that life already has in store for us.
- "To achieve success and happiness it is enough to set difficult yet achievable goals."
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