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Paul Erdös was an amazing and prolific mathematician whose life as a world-wandering numerical nomad was legendary. He published almost 1500 scholarly papers before his death in 1996, and he probably thought more about math problems than anyone in history. Like a traveling salesman offering his thoughts as wares, Erdös would show up on the doorstep of one mathematician or another and announce, "My brain is open." After working through a problem, he'd move on to the next place, the next solution.
Hoffman's book, like Sylvia Nasar's biography of John Nash, A Beautiful Mind, reveals a genius's life that transcended the merely quirky. But Erdös's brand of madness was joyful, unlike Nash's despairing schizophrenia. Erdös never tried to dilute his obsessive passion for numbers with ordinary emotional interactions, thus avoiding hurting the people around him, as Nash did. Oliver Sacks writes of Erdös: "A mathematical genius of the first order, Paul Erdös was totally obsessed with his subject--he thought and wrote mathematics for nineteen hours a day until the day he died. He traveled constantly, living out of a plastic bag, and had no interest in food, sex, companionship, art--all that is usually indispensable to a human life."
The Man Who Loved Only Numbers is easy to love, despite his strangeness. It's hard not to have affection for someone who referred to children as "epsilons," from the Greek letter used to represent small quantities in mathematics; a man whose epitaph for himself read, "Finally I am becoming stupider no more"; and whose only really necessary tool to do his work was a quiet and open mind. Hoffman, who followed and spoke with Erdös over the last 10 years of his life, introduces us to an undeniably odd, yet pure and joyful, man who loved numbers more than he loved God--whom he referred to as SF, for Supreme Fascist. He was often misunderstood, and he certainly annoyed people sometimes, but Paul Erdös is no doubt missed. --Therese Littleton -- Dieser Text bezieht sich auf eine andere Ausgabe: Gebundene Ausgabe .
From Kirkus Reviews
An affectionate if impressionistic portrayal of one of the century's greatest and strangest mathematicians. Though little known among nonmathematicians, Erdos, who died in 1996 at age 83, was a legend among his colleagues. According to Hoffman (Archimedes' Revenge, 1988), the Hungarian was so devoted to mathematics that he went without wife, children, steady job, or even a home, preferring to exist as the wandering guest of fellow mathematicians. He lived for math, announcing his visits with a hearty, ``My brain is open,'' posing and solving problems while subsisting on amphetamines and coffee (`` `A mathematician,' Erdos was fond of saying, `is a machine for turning coffee into theorems' ''), and forgoing pleasantries like ``Good morning'' to jump right in with, ``Let n be an integer.'' He published more than 1,500 papers with at least 484 coauthors, who pride themselves on their ``Erds number of 1'' (a figure indicating one's degree of separation from the master). Hoffman, who traveled with and interviewed many of his collaborators, weaves oral histories and clear mathematical explication into a digressive (sometimes too digressive), entertaining whole. Hoffman creates a full-bodied and eccentric character out of hundreds of quotations and anecdotes. Missing are the linear landmarks of conventional biography: Erdos doesn't get born until page 48, a precise account of his death is absent, and his most important mathematical discoveries are nowhere summarized. Though a biography, this book works like the best fiction, finding in a concrete universal to show what mathematics is and who the people are who uncover its truths. (8 pages b&w photos, not seen) -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
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Einleitungssatz
It was dinnertime in Greenbrook, New Jersey, on a cold spring day in 1987, and Paul Erdos, then seventy-four, had lost four mathematical colleagues, who were sitting fifty feet in front of him, sipping green tea. Lesen Sie die erste Seite
Buchdeckel | Copyright | Inhaltsverzeichnis | Auszug | Stichwortverzeichnis | Rückseite
It was dinnertime in Greenbrook, New Jersey, on a cold spring day in 1987, and Paul Erdos, then seventy-four, had lost four mathematical colleagues, who were sitting fifty feet in front of him, sipping green tea. Lesen Sie die erste Seite
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Format:Taschenbuch
I found this book really gripping. The author described the historical context of Erdos' life well and explained the math in a way that a non-mathematician could easily understand. I couldn't put it down. I've passed it on to quite a few people who all seem to like it as well.
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Format:Taschenbuch
This is a book filled with garbages which the author took from somewhere else and forcefully pasted them together in a rather distorted way. Most of the time, the attentions are focused on fun and interesting issues of other mathematicians other than Paul Erdos himself. After reading the book, I really have to agree with reader from San Diego that this man (Hoffman) is trying to make a cash out of Erdos' death, and this is very sad.
Format:Taschenbuch
This is a wonderful book. Hoffman writes a series of vignettes about Paul Erdos, a giant of number theory. Erdos, who died in 1996, was as eccentric as he was brilliant. Though Erdos engaged in few activities outside of mathematics in his adult life, he lived as interesting a life as anyone's, in my opinion. The stories about Erdos and his fellow mathematicians are so entertaining and, in some cases, so genuinely uplifting or poignant, that I have read some of them five times. Also, the quotes and opinions from Erdos himself are very interesting and amusing. His ideas were certainly unconventional, but many of them are very insightful. "The Man Who Loved Only Numbers" does not provide the most systematic account of Erdos's life possible, but in its current format it is more enjoyable.
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How a good biography should be
This is one of two excellent biographies published shortly after Paul Erdos' death (the other being "my brain is open" by B.Schechter) This book succeeds on many levels. Lesen Sie weiter...
Veröffentlicht am 5. Juni 2000 von Giuseppe A. Paleologo
Paul- what an eccentric!
If you want to read a biography of an eccentric but highly accomplished man, look no further. Paul Erdos may have lacked everyday practical skills, may have had a very disheveled... Lesen Sie weiter...
Veröffentlicht am 2. Juni 2000 von Laura Miller
An interesting read...
Having had no prior knowledge of Paul Erdos and his work, I purchased this book on a whim. I enjoy biographies of interesting people and he certainly was one. Lesen Sie weiter...
Veröffentlicht am 5. Mai 2000 von Debbie Tam
The life of a mathematical minstrel
This is an excellent biography of one of the most extraordinary people of this century, but the title is inaccurate. Lesen Sie weiter...
Veröffentlicht am 28. April 2000 von Charles Ashbacher
superb biographical account !
Needless to say Erdos, the most prolific mathematician of all times had a curious yet eventful life ! Lesen Sie weiter...
Veröffentlicht am 28. März 2000 von Nishant
Fascinating insight into the mind of a mathematical genius
This is an unconventional biography of an extremely unconventional person. Hoffman does not follow the classic chronological structure of laying out the subject's life. Lesen Sie weiter...
Veröffentlicht am 3. März 2000 von Hans U. Widmaier
An odd book, but a wonderful one
This book is tremendous fun to read. It's not very well organized, it jumps around a lot, it gets lost in tangents - but it manages to capture that pure, fresh, clear and utterly... Lesen Sie weiter...
Veröffentlicht am 10. Februar 2000 von Hans U. Widmaier
Good reading for biography fans
I received this book as a gift, and as a non-mathematician I thought it was both an interesting biography and an engaging overview of some of the key events and themes in modern... Lesen Sie weiter...
Veröffentlicht am 20. Januar 2000 von Brian Reynolds
Math Was Never this Much Fun
The best book I have read in months because the human being and the mathematical mind make an irresistable brew both touching and stimulating. Lesen Sie weiter...
Veröffentlicht am 14. Januar 2000 von Charles T. Bauer
Prime Reading
Give this book a chance, and it will rekindle the joy in numbers that you probably lost, like me, sometime in high school algebra. Lesen Sie weiter...
Veröffentlicht am 28. Dezember 1999 von jraksin
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