Dutton Books

Poincaré's prize; the hundred-year quest to solve one of math's greatest puzzles.

A reclusive Russian posted the solution to one of mathematic's major puzzles on the Internet in 2003, but Grigory Perelman has yet to claim the prestigious and lucrative prizes to which this entitles him. Szpiro (a Jerusalem-based mathematician/author of Kepler's Conjecture) traces the quest to solve Poincoré's 1904 problem concerning how an ant on a large surface would know whether it was flat, a round sphere, or bagel-shaped. Notes supply details for those wishing to be more mathematically literate about its implications. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Postcards from Mars; the first photographer on the red planet.

Bell led the team that built the "Pancam" cameras installed on the Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity. The some 100 double-page (and some fold-out) prints collected here depict the preparation of those missions as well as the stark Martian panoramas captured in images both single and composite, both real- and false-color. Bell applies his sensibilities as a lifetime landscape photographer to select artful and varied depictions of the texture of the Red Planet. The book is oversize: 11.75x11.75 inches. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)