A lovely book by a lovely mathematician. Yes, 1 is prime in that book, but why not? Yes, some pythagorean drawing of numbers would have helped, but all that are tiny details concerning a book which can only make people attracted to mathematics. The book is deep, though, and lead the reader to key notion, like a proof of the Quadratic Reciprocity Law, to give one example. I asked myself if that was the "Richard Friedberg" of logic (recursion theory), the one who solved a famous problem by Emil Post, independently with Mucnick, a long time ago, and well, I think so, for a small very curious passage on "mind-reading" sequence of numbers, which makes me hoping the author write a popular book on Logic. There is much love in that book, for the numbers, mathematics, and its audience.

I come from a coding background. I ventured into number theory while brushing up on my discrete math for coding. I enjoy numbers and thought this would be right up my alley. Boy was I wrong. I find myself skipping through the proofs and useless information(about half the book). I don't care if a cube cant be the sum of two cubes, or if 1311 is a special number because it has 13 and 11 in it.

Most of the information in here is either just thought exercises, or so inapplicable I cant even see scenarios where its useful. The book isn't bad, just not for me. I am glad it only cost me 1 $10 book to learn enough about number theory to know its not my cup of tea

I think this book is a masterpiece in mathematical exposition. All you need to know is how to add, subtract, multiply, and divide and maybe a vague memory of algebra. Mr. Friedberg will walk you through a lot of number theory after which (or maybe even during which) you may find a number theory textbook more approachable. If you read carefully you will really internalize what a proof by contradiction is and what an infinite descent is. You'll get a real appreciation for the logic of a proof and you'll see some ingenius tricks used by some great mathematicians ... and you'll understand them!

This book is approachable and doable by anyone with a motivation for what can be understood about numbers. And I can't stress how carefully, thoughtfully, and articulately it is written.

There is a bit of jump in understanding to get number theory fully, for me that was comprehending infinity once I got that the rest made sense to me. Number theory is amazing and this book does an excellent job of highlighting how fun the subject can be.

You must have a medium understanding of mathematics and algebra.

Correct item arrived quickly in good condition.

I felt like I suited up for space travel and got grounded by equipment malfunction. Perhaps I took the title too literally. Since there are so many books on number theory, surely one with such a title should cover the outer reaches. This is nothing but a basic introduction. More is covered in Albert Beiler's "Recreations in the Theory of Numbers" and it's much more adventurous. Still worth 3 stars, and worth owning - but not worth keeping under your pillow.

This book really helped explain number theory in user friendly language. I've had number theory textbooks and they were terrible. This book was much better.

the book is quite good. it's a dover classic and is hugely enjoyable.