Sunday 12 August 2012

The Last Theorem. By Arthur C. Clarke and Fredrik Pohl

The Last Theorem


Arthur C. Clarke and Fredrik Pohl

HarperVoyager. First published 2008.

I think the book was written mainly by Pohl, with Clarke doing some editing and contributing many of the ideas. It is set in Sri Lanka and, though the Sinhala-Tamil conflict appears vaguely in the background, there is very little sense of geography or current history in the story. The hero is a Tamil from Triconamalee, the son of a priest. A brilliant student of mathematics, he is facinated by Fermat's Last Theorem – and proves it! This happens along with kidnappings by Somalian pirates, torture in a Pakistani prison, a barely-averted attack of earth by alien super races, travels in space and a final race in space using solar sails. Despite so much happening, the book moves slowly and is a bore for most part. It is just a regurgitation of various thoughts and ideas Clarke has had from time to time (including at least one idea from Robin Cook), loosely tied together by the sory of Ranjit Subramaniam. Clarke has described some of the ideas in other books – e.g. Skyhook, an elevator running on tracks built of carbon fibre (nanotubes in this book, diamond 'fibre' in an earlier version) which carries spaceships into near-earth orbit; the idea of a benign organisation with a super-powerful weapon that does not harm humans, but neutralizes the weapons of the bad guys and brings about world peace; insubstantial beings that rule the galaxy; and spaceships powered by solar wind. The book is probably an attempt to cash in on Clarke's name, though Pohl is well known sci-fi writer himself. (However, I don't think I have read anything by him.)  

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