The Millennium Problems: The Greatest Unsolved Mathematical Puzzles of Our Time

In 2000, the Clay Foundation announced a historic competition: whoever could solve any of seven extraordinarily difficult mathematical problems, and have the solution acknowledged as correct by the experts, would receive $1 million in prize money. There was some precedent for doing this: In 1900 the mathematician David Hilbert proposed twenty-three problems that set much of the agenda for mathematics in the twentieth century. The Millennium Problems—chosen by a committee of the leading mathematicians in the world—are likely to acquire similar stature, and their solution (or lack of it) is likely to play a strong role in determining the course of mathematics in the twenty-first century. Keith Devlin, renowned expositor of mathematics and one of the authors of the Clay Institute's official description of the problems, here provides the definitive account for the mathematically interested reader.

The definitive account of the Everests of mathematics--the seven unsolved problems that define the state of the art in contemporary math

Portland Mercury

Energetic and entertaining...the book's ultimate success is in shining a bright light on the mysteries of the human mind and the truly dizzying heights it can achieve.

Keith Devlin -- regular National Public Radio commentator and member of the Stanford University staff -- writes about the genetic progression of mathematical thinking and the most head-scratching math problems of the day. And he somehow manages to make it fun for the lay reader.