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Summary and Reviews of A Beautiful Mind by Sylvia Nasar

A Beautiful Mind by Sylvia Nasar

A Beautiful Mind

The Life of Mathematical Genius and Nobel Laureate John Nash

by Sylvia Nasar
  • Critics' Consensus (9):
  • Readers' Rating (4):
  • First Published:
  • Jun 1, 1998, 464 pages
  • Paperback:
  • Dec 2001, 464 pages
  • Rate this book

About This Book

Book Summary

'A brilliant book -- at once a powerful and moving biography of a great mathematical genius and an important contribution to American intellectual history.'

How could you, a mathematician, believe that extraterrestrials were sending you messages?" the visitor from Harvard asked the West Virginian with the movie-star looks and Olympian manner.

"Because the ideas I had about supernatural beings came to me the same way my mathematical ideas did," came the answer. "So I took them seriously."

Thus begins the true story of John Nash, the mathematical genius who was a legend by age thirty when he slipped into madness, and who -- thanks to the selflessness of a beautiful woman and the loyalty of the mathematics community -- emerged after decades of ghostlike existence to win a Nobel Prize and world acclaim. The inspiration for a major motion picture, Sylvia Nasar's award-winning biography is a drama about the mystery of the human mind, triumph over incredible adversity, and the healing power of love.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

Business Week - Michael J. Mandel
[A] fascinating account of creativity barely under control, of a mathematical genius who was driven by--and eventually overwhelmed by--his own inner demons. It represents a staggering feat of writing and reporting, and includes an unprecedented look at the inner workings of the Nobel Prize committee.

Slate - Jim Holt
[An] absolutely fascinating biography..

The Boston Globe
Superbly written and eminently fascinating.

The New York Times Book Review - Simon Singh
Tells a moving story and offers a remarkable look into the arcane world of mathematics and the tragedy of madness.

Wall Street Journal - Charles C. Mann
After suffering with Mr. Nash's family through his madness, the reader greets his recovery--and his ability to reforge a bond with his wife--as a triumph.... A Beautiful Mind is one of the few scientific biographies I have encountered that could plausibly be described as a three-handkerchief read.

New Scientist - Keith Devlin
[A] must read, with something for everyone ... [a] first-rate biography...

The New York Times
Reads like a fine novel

Booklist
Rarely has the fragility of the boundary separating genius from madness been illustrated with more compelling insight than in this biography of John Nash, a Nobel laureate in economics and one of this century's greatest mathematicians.... To fully appreciate Nash's career accomplishments, readers must have some grasp of advanced mathematics. But Nasar tells the story of a great mind broken and then healed with subtle sympathy, which will touch any reader who understands what it means to hope--or to fear.

Kirkus Reviews
Impressively researched and detailed, but still fails to shed much light on the mysteries of genius and insanity.

Author Blurb David Herbert Donald
A brilliant book -- at once a powerful and moving biography of a great mathematical genius and an important contribution to American intellectual history.

Author Blurb Oliver Sacks
Deeply interesting and extraordinarily moving.

Author Blurb Oliver Sacks
A splendid book, deeply interesting and extraordinarily moving, remarkable for its sympathetic insights into both genius and schizophrenia.

Author Blurb The New England Journal of Medicine, 1998 - Richard J. Wyatt, M.D.
Nasar has written an intriguing account of a fascinating man, of a beautiful mind, and of terrible madness. She has also written a deeply moving love story, an account of the centrality of human relationships in a world of nightmare and genius.

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Read-Alikes

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