A Beautiful Mind: The Life of Mathematical Genius and Nobel Laureate John Nash

https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/3806914.html

I got a lot more out of the book than the film. It is honest where the film is not about Alicia's origins, John Nash's sexuality and the nature and course of his illness and career. It goes a bit into the mathematics without trying too hard; in the end, the non-specialist has to take the word of the specialist that this was all Really Important Stuff.

But where the book excels is in its examination of the social and political construction of the environment where Nash worked. It had not occurred to me that the Princeton of Einstein (and Nash) was very different from the Princeton of Woodrow Wilson, just a few decades before. Nasar maps out very carefully how the decision of a few intellectual show more centres of excellence to invest in mathematics - or rather, in mathematicians - was driven by wider political and social currents, including McCarthyism and antisemitism (Nash himself also lurched into antisemitism, and not only when deluded). Her behind-the-scenes account of how Nash almost didn't get the 1994 Nobel Prize is one of the most gripping things I've ever read in a scientific biography. (Yeah, I know it's not technically a Nobel Prize. Sue me.)

Some of Nash's friends queried whether the biography was ethical, given that it was written without his consent or cooperation. In fact his attitude was studiedly neutral, and Nasar clearly had full cooperation from his colleagues and lovers, which he could presumably have deterred if he had really wanted to. He was apparently pleased enough with it in the end, and enjoyed the film too, though he commented (rightly enough) that it wasn't really about him. show less

Sylvia Nasar's biography of John Nash tells the story of this mathematical genius with precision, excellent scholarship and attention to background details that puts the motivations and actions of this man in the context of the time in which he was most active. She describes Cold War politics and McCarthyism, both of which had profound effects on mathematicians and physicists during the 50s, 60s and 70s. So why am I giving this book only 3 stars? Well, quite frankly, I didn't like the man! As we all know from the movie (which I actually haven't seen), he becomes schizophrenic, which occurs half way through the book. Before that, he was an insecure, arrogant tyrant who belittled anyone whose intellect did not measure up to his standards. show more Although blessed with positions at some of our most prestigious institutions, he was an indifferent teacher at best and a nasty one on the bad days. I kept thinking, "why do I have to wait for him to become schizophrenic (in the second half of the book) to develop empathy for this guy?" However that was the case. I certainly have enjoyed books about far worse people (e.g. Adolf Eichmann). I guess the way he treated his lovers, wife and children really got to me. Nevertheless, the book is really an excellent biography, well-researched and worth reading. Also, the story of him recovering his intellectual abilities, conquering schizophrenia as well as winning a Nobel Prize and reestablishing a life with his loved ones is very inspiring and redeeming. show less

Where I got the book: audiobook downloaded from Audible.

I haven't had an Audible subscription for ages but I knew there were some books on there I hadn't listened to. I was surprised to find this one among them. Why, I wondered, had I picked a book about a mathematician I'd personally never heard of? By the time my youngest was in freshman year at high school I could no longer follow what she was doing in math. Actually, that was probably true in 8th grade. Ok, 7th grade. You get the picture? I'm not a mathematician.

Well, I love surprises. I was spellbound by the story of John Nash, who as a young man emerged as one of the most talented mathematicians of his generation. The discussion of how mathematics, especially game theory, was used show more during the Cold War to plan strategies was beyond fascinating even though I didn't understand it 100%. And then as Nash drew closer to middle age, at the time when he should have been riding the top of the wave, his eccentricity degenerated into outright schizophrenia and cost him his job, his marriage and his rational mind.

And THEN--I feel like one of those commercials, "Wait! There's more!"--after years spent in asylums he somehow managed to emerge from insanity and THEN, something like 40 years after he'd done the work, he was awarded a Nobel Prize for his contribution to game theory. By the end of the book he is living in a fragile balance with his ex-wife, still seeing his mathematical friends and caring for a son with schizophrenia. And, most striking of all, he is a much nicer person after his harrowing experience with insanity than he was as an arrogant wunderkind. Nasar provides a very complete, warts-and-all picture of a human thinking machine.

This was the abridged version, which was a pity. One day I'll seek out the full version and read it, or listen to it, again. The narrator, by the way, one Edward Hermann, was one of the best I've heard recently; an unremarkable voice in a way but a reading that was as smooth as silk with absolutely NO annoying mannerisms of speech. show less

At first glance, a biography of a mathematician would seem to make for a read dryer than the Sahara. However, John Nash is no ordinary mathematician and Sylvia Nasar is no ordinary biographer. In her capable hands, the life of John Nash comes to life…in all of its brilliant, dark, pessimistic, extraordinary, callous wonder.

John Forbes Nash, Jr. is a mathematical genius whose extraordinary mind developed the structure for what became known as Game Theory – revolutionizing both mathematics and economics in the second half of the twentieth century. The power of his theories culminated with him being awarded the Nobel Prize for Economics nearly fifty years after his groundbreaking work began. But it came at a heavy price. By the age of show more thirty, Nash was suffering from his first bouts of paranoid schizophrenia, a disease he would suffer with for three decades. He was institutionalized by his family on several occasions and left for dead by most of the mathematics community.

Left to wander the campus of Princeton University as a “ghost” and a “crazy man,” Nash did the unthinkable – he began recovering from a disease that there was thought to be no recovery from. He even begin to work on mathematics research again. It was a recovery that physiatrists thought was impossible.

A Beautiful Mind is really not about mathematics, but about what it means to be labeled “gifted,” “different” or “sick.” It is about how society treats people who are unusual and how few answers there are for what goes on between someone’s ears. It is also about John’s wife Alicia, who set aside her own desires to try to guide John through a world that had become hostile to him.

Ultimately, Sylvia Nasar succeeds with A Beautiful Mind because she leaves out most of the heavy-handed mathematics and focuses on who John Nash is and what his life represents. Make no mistake, John Nash not a lovable person. He is rude, thoughtless, self-centered and egotistical – all the things we don’t like in a person. His genius is both a gift and a curse.

Yet, we cheer for him the whole way because there is an innocence about him; a childlike quality of someone who doesn’t quite understand other people but has to function within society none-the-less. And it is a society of the 1950s and 1960s with little understanding or tolerance for mental illness. His story also gives us hope that no matter how hopeless a person’s situation may seem, here is an example of someone who was able to climb out of that hole and rejoin life and be happy again. That is what makes John Nash’s story so important – it demonstrates that anyone’s life can be turned around. It demonstrates hope. It demonstrates redemption. It is a story well worth your time. show less

"A man all alone in a strange world"
By sally tarbox on 3 April 2018
Format: Kindle Edition
A very interesting biography of mathematician and Nobel prize winner John Forbes Nash. From a 'good' background, Nash soon graduated on to becoming one of the top students at university, developing new theories and re-examining older problems (having only O level maths, much of this went right over my head.) But his behaviour - odd, arrogant, often unsocial - gradually morphed into something much worse, with a diagnosis of schizophrenia.
How Nash continued his work, even after years of illness, makes for a fascinating read. The arguments of the Nobel committee over whether to make an award to a person with mental illness; the gradual rapprochement show more (and re-marriage to) the wife who had divorced him; the gradual building of a relationship with his illegitimate son (and the sadness of having to cope with the fact that his other son had his father's illness.)

Nasar also helps the reader (even the non-mathematical) in having at least a vague idea of what value Nash's 'game theory' has to the man in the street. She looks at the 1994 'greatest auction ever', where the US government sold off airspace to TV companies etc; and how using the strategies of game theory helped maximize profits.

Informative and very well written. show less

A biography of the brilliant, eccentric mathematician John Nash, whose career was cut short by a descent into schizophrenia, but who experienced a rare, astonishingly dramatic remission in time to accept the Nobel Prize in economics in 1994. Nasar's writing is simple, with no personal interjections about her research for the book and no gimmicks, but it's effective. She invokes a great sense of understanding and sympathy for Nash without sentimentalizing him or downplaying his character flaws or his sometimes reprehensible treatment of others. Her depiction of Nash's illness and recovery is poignantly bittersweet, and her examination of the arc of his life raises a lot of thought-provoking questions about the possible connections show more between genius, mental illness, and personality.

This is, by the way, the basis of the movie of the same name. I saw that long enough ago that I don't remember much about it, but I understand that the movie did fudge a number of details and leave quite a few things out. I'm thinking perhaps I ought to watch it again to compare. show less

This enthralled me in a way I didn't actually think that it would. I picked it up out of pure curiosity, I knew vaguely what it was about, but was not biased by the film which I still haven't seen. But the portrait of John Nash's life was well done. I knew the scene...the state of the world and the state of John himself...which always makes a biography more complete. The motivations and actions of the person more understandable and easier in which to relate. The mathematics was neatly woven throughout and while not a particular fan...I could understand at least vaguely most all that was talked of in that respect..or at least connect it to something I could understand. I think the author did a wonderful job. I thoroughly recommend it.