The Wild Numbers

Five plus three equals eight-this is math professor Isaac Swift's mantra: a simple formula guaranteed to get him out of bed in the morning. After an impressive beginning to his career, Swift finds himself, at thirty-five, teaching Algebra 101 in a backwater university. While his former assistant scales the heights of academic glory, Isaac just keeps adding up the years and coming up with zero. But one night, in a rush of frenzied genius, Swift solves an unsolvable theorem-Beauregard's Wild Number Problem-and he's on his way to fame and fortune. However, with academic stardom just within his grasp, Isaac is accused of plagiarism by a deranged student, and his orderly life spirals out of control. The Wild Numbers brings the not-so-hallowed halls of academia to vivid life, with its under- and over- achievers, savants, and intellectual frauds. This delightful first novel is a witty and entertaining tale of a world where the line between genius and madness is disappearing, and where the numbers never lie.