I downloaded the book "Carry On, Mr Bowditch." Opened it and only took three breaks. It's a fun read for both kids and adults. But you won't learn any new math through it.

However, it taught me a few things.

The importance of math and how tiny errors in calculations can cost lives. In this case, the lives of sailors. That before GPS, sailors used the position of moon and stars to calculate the longitude.

A bit of American history - why the US had to become a navy superpower.

I learned a lot about sailing - logbooks, knots, starboard, stern, lunar navigation, sextant... and how dependent on the whims of the Wind shipping used to be.

A bit about patience with people mentally slower than me in a given topic. The analogy used: Walking in the dark and hitting my leg against a chair. I'm angry and want to break the chair but it's not the fault of the chair.

Also learned about book writing. One could teach a class represented by audience of a book in search of explanations they'll understand. And then use those for the book.

The sentence "Math conquers all" might be a good summary for the book.

I wonder if Nathaniel Bowditch was an inspiration for Heinlein's 1953 novel Starman Jones. It seems quite possible, given his Navy career.

Was confused how Greg Egan wasn't on the list, then I got to the sci-fi section, and he's in there.

I could second his recommendation for 'Turing (A Novel About Computation)' by Christos Papadimitriou

Excellent list, I would merge with https://justinmeiners.github.io/foundations-of-math-reading/

Barely qualifying as fiction, but very focused on the beauty and entertainment value of mathematics: "Surreal Numbers" by Donald Knuth.

Two recommendations:

“The No-sided Professor,” by Martin Gardner, and “A Subway Named Moebius,” by A.J. Deutsch.

http://www.carliner-remes.com/jacob/math/project/lit.htm

At high school back in 1984, my year 9 math teacher (Larry Doolan) read us excerpts from "Stories about Sets" by N. Ya. Vilenkin (1968) [0].

The book's first story is about a hotel with an infinite number of rooms. It is fully booked, then one new guest arrives. Fortunately a solution is found. Then an infinite number of new guests arrive. After some head-scratching, a clever solution is found. Finally an infinity of infinite numbers of new guests arrive. And a lot of head-scratching, an even cleverer solution is still found!

[0] https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Stories_About_Sets.ht...

I can second the recommendation for "Pythagorean Crimes" by Tefcros Michaelides.

While not as good as "The Parrot's Theorem" that Tefcros translated from French, it manages to seamlessly interweave famous figures into its otherwise fictional plot.

If you're looking for books for older children, e.g. 9-13, The Boy Who Reversed Himself, The Man Who Counted and The Number Devil, which are listed here, are fantastic.

For the younger audience, e.g. 6-9, I suggest the Math Adventures books, e.g. Sir Cumference and the Isle of Immeter, which are illustrated and introduce mathematical concepts in a fun and subtle way.

Was there a Nabokov novel about mathematicians/mathematics ? Or perhaps it was about chess.

The Luzhin Defense is about chess. But perhaps the same novel could be written about a mathematician, I first learned about the novel while reading this article by V.I. Arnold: https://www.math.ru.nl/~mueger/arnold.pdf