A December Read About Love and Math
The Riemann Hypothesis—while being almost unexplainably hard to understand—is one of our mathematical mysteries. It's so mysterious that the person who solves it will earn a million dollars. If it's solved, the advancement of our earthly civilization will be unimaginable and might even be a threat to alien civilizations.
Or anyway, that's how Matt Haig presents it in his book The Humans. When this famous mathematical question is solved by a professor, an alien race sends an envoy to Earth to prevent this solution from becoming public by killing anyone who might publish it. As this envoy starts out determined to finish this mission, he starts to build a relationship with the professor's family that makes it harder and harder for this alien to complete the mission.
The Humans is a nice-to-read story about love, relationships, and connection, making it a perfect story for these December days. It even finishes out with 97-or-so pieces of life advice which are both fun to read and spread a message of brotherhood and peace. After reading The Midnight Library, one of Haig's other books, I'm only just getting started with his full repertoire, and I'd like to continue devouring his oeuvre. Looking forward to it!