ladymercury_10 | What? Your textbook doesn't mention aliens?

The authors of my number theory textbook apparently like to make up ridiculous stories about mathematicians to illustrate various principles. Right now I am reading about how Gauss was abducted by aliens from Venus, allegedly to help me learn about modular arithmetic. I kid you not, this sentence comes directly from the book: "Gauss was surprised to find that life on Venus was similar to life in Germany--the locals worked hard at high-paying technical jobs, the beer was good, and all of the hovercraft ran on schedule."

Alternate history: check
Jokes about national stereotypes: check
Puns: check
Intermediate-level college math: also check

Other things I've "learned" from this book:

Emmy Noether worked night shifts as a university security guard and employed the principle of induction to check IDs before a showing of "Raiders of the Lost Arctangent."
Euclid was a baker who thought that too much interest in pie was irrational. He invented the Euclidean Algorithm to help him bake rectangular cakes using square pans.

This has got to be the silliest and most hilarious math text I've ever seen, but my professor says the mathematics is very good. I can neither confirm nor deny this, but it is pretty clear about most things once it gets down to talking about them. The really weird part is that these object lesson joke stories actually do sort of help.