"The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time"

I just finished a book by British author Mark Haddon, titled "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time," published in 2003. It is written from the perspective of a 15 year-old autistic savant, Christopher. Wow, it is an incredible book, I thoroughly enjoyed it. It is very insightful into the thought process, emotional and behavioral challenges of some autistic kids.
Christopher is a genius who loves mathematics, so it is filled with mathematical references and outlook on life. I was in heaven! It is also very witty, I found myself bursting out in audible laughter on the bus! (At times because I could frightfully identify with some of the kid's tendencies...) There is also a mystery involved, and a tear-jerker part of the story (ironic, since the boy is incapable of processing emotion)...I confess I shed a few tears on the bus as well.

Anyhow at the beginning of the book, Christopher writes, "Prime numbers are what is left when you have taken all the patterns away. I think prime numbers are like life. They are very logical but you could never work out the rules, even if you spent all your time thinking about them. "

Since my research is relies on the properties of prime numbers, this quote especially resonated with me.

Later Christopher tells a joke, something to the effect of the following:

There are 3 men on a train. One is an economist, one a logician and one a mathematician. They have just arrived in Ireland and see a brown cow standing in a field from the window of the train (and the cow is standing parallel to the train).

The economist says, ‘Look, the cows in Ireland are brown.”

The Logician says, “No. There are cows in Ireland of which one, at least, is brown.”

The Mathematician says, “No. There is at least one cow in Ireland of which one side appears to be brown.”

Christopher explains, "It is funny because economists are not real scientists, and because logicians think more clearly, but mathematicians are best."

Oh yes. :)