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Mathematicians have recently made dramatic progress on the Twin Primes Conjecture, which asserts that there are infinitely many pairs of prime numbers that differ by 2. This book will describe two stories: that of the recent work on the Twin Primes Conjecture, and in parallel the related ideas from the previous two thousand years of mathematics.

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In 2013, a little known mathematician in his late 50s stunned the mathematical community with a breakthrough on an age-old problem about prime numbers. Since then, there has been further dramatic progress on the problem, thanks to the efforts of a large-scale online collaborative effort of a type that would have been unthinkable in mathematics a couple of decades ago, and the insight and creativity of a young mathematician at the start of his career.

Prime numbers have intrigued, inspired and infuriated mathematicians for millennia. Every school student studies prime numbers and can appreciate their beauty, and yet mathematicians´ difficulty with answering some seemingly simple questions about them reveals the depth and subtlety of prime numbers.

Vicky Neale charts the recent progress towards proving the famous Twin Primes Conjecture, and the very different ways in which the breakthroughs have been made: a solo mathematician working in isolation and obscurity, and a large collaboration that is more public than any previous collaborative effort in mathematics and that reveals much about how mathematicians go about their work. Interleaved with this story are highlights from a significantly older tale, going back two thousand years and
more, of mathematicians´ efforts to comprehend the beauty and unlock the mysteries of the prime numbers.

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The book features a creative structure that lends itself well to the subject matter. A curious undergraduate mathematics major should enjoy this book and learn a great deal. For mathematicians who do not specialize in number theory but who are curious about the flurry of recent activity in the field, this book provides an excellent entry point. Stephan Ramon Garcia, Notices of the American Mathematics Society

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Vicky Neale is the Whitehead Lecturer at the Mathematical Institute and Balliol College, University of Oxford. A substantial part of her remit is public communication of mathematics. She has wide experience of working with students of all ages (school children to adults, via undergraduates), and of giving public lectures, and does various media work.

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