'The Last Theorem' by Arthur C. Clarke and Frederik Pohl

The most exciting part of "The Last Theorem" (Del Rey: 304 pp., $27), the novel by the late Arthur C. Clarke and fellow science fiction veteran Frederik Pohl, has nothing to do with the titular titillation of finding a proof for Fermat's famous marginal musing, nor with a secret weapon called Silent Thunder that instantly renders all of North Korea a demilitarized zone, nor with the umpteenth invocation of Clarke's famous "space elevator" concept, which substitutes traditional rocket launchers with a giant ladder to the heavens. (For these, you need look no further than Clarke's other 2008 collaboration, "Firstborn," with Stephen Baxter.) Rather, "The Last Theorem" involves a part of the Clarke legend that has long been acknowledged but rarely discussed.

By Ed Park

August 10, 2008