Looking for a very gentle first book on number theory

Question

My gf is the classic math-phobe, totally traumatized by math, etc., which surprises me, since she's whip-smart. The only explanation I can think of is that she got off to a bad start in elementary school.

My own love for mathematics was kindled by an old book on number theory that I found in my school's library. Unfortunately, I can't remember that book's title or author, so...

I'm looking for a very gentle first book on number theory.

If you remember what the cover looked like, you can search "number theory book" on google images. — Jared, Apr 17 '13 at 00:56
@kjo: I wonder if you were thinking of one of the books that is now a Dover Number Theory book? There are several and the prices are great! Regards — Amzoti, Apr 17 '13 at 01:14
I don’t know that I’ve seen anything that I’d call a very gentle introduction to the subject, but Underwood Dudley, Elementary Number Theory is gentler than most and quite clearly written. — Brian M. Scott, Apr 17 '13 at 01:19
I second Brian's suggestion of Dudley's book. Also, she might enjoy reading something like Simon Singh's Fermat's Enigma, which although is not exactly a book on elementary number theory, it describes the story behind the solution to a famous problem in number theory. For me, before I was even interested in math, it made me want to try to learn what number theory was about. — Adrián Barquero, Apr 17 '13 at 02:21
Silverman's book A Gentle Introduction to Number Theory is good, serious, unfortunately not cheap. — André Nicolas, Apr 17 '13 at 03:14
You could look at Oystein Ore's Invitation to Number Theory, which is in the MAA's New Mathematical Library series and thus roughly written for good high school students. — Dave L. Renfro, Apr 17 '13 at 19:15
Does this answer your question? What is a good book to learn number theory? — , Feb 01 '21 at 19:16

Looking for a very gentle first book on number theory

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