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92 reviews for:
The Man Who Loved Only Numbers: The Story of Paul Erdos and the Search for Mathematical Truth
Paul Hoffman
4.21 AVERAGE
92 reviews for:
The Man Who Loved Only Numbers: The Story of Paul Erdos and the Search for Mathematical Truth
Paul Hoffman
4.21 AVERAGE
Fascinating look at a pure life. An interesting journey to go through as a lost adult, admiring the beauty that was Paul Erdos and his life, fantasising of the greatness derived from pure love and devotion to something. Inspiring, intimate and charming. A welcome respite from all the depressing history that exists.
adventurous
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
Really good book, but unfortunately, I hold biographies about mathematicians to the standard of 'The Man who Knew Infinity'.
I absolutely loved this book. I majored in math during undergrad and spent 4 years hearing the stories about Erdős and the professors comparing Erdős numbers (highest in the department was 2), so in my head he was more of a myth than an actual person.
This book is both a history of Erdős and a history of mathematics in general. A lot of stories and theories present in the book were familiar to me, but they were well written it has been 10 years since college and the refresher on everything made me remember how much I enjoyed higher mathematics.
The personal anecdotes throughout the book make what could be a pretty boring book about math into a really personal story about a man who had touched so many lives.
After finishing the book it makes me wonder if what life would have been like if I had gone back to school for mathematics instead of computer science.
This book is both a history of Erdős and a history of mathematics in general. A lot of stories and theories present in the book were familiar to me, but they were well written it has been 10 years since college and the refresher on everything made me remember how much I enjoyed higher mathematics.
The personal anecdotes throughout the book make what could be a pretty boring book about math into a really personal story about a man who had touched so many lives.
After finishing the book it makes me wonder if what life would have been like if I had gone back to school for mathematics instead of computer science.
This book is definitely best suited for the niche audience of amateur math nerds who don’t already know all the fun theorems and stories that Hoffman describes, but luckily, I am in that niche. The stories go beyond the life of Paul Erdös and explore the history of math. I loved the descriptions of quirky mathematicians and found the exploration of proofs and their origins really interesting. :)
informative
medium-paced
Entertaining book with a good dose of Math, history and a super interesting protagonist. Erdos’s moto “My brain is open” summarizes everything that is good about life.
A poorly written biography, however; some excellent anecdotes about one of the most interesting mathematicians of recent times
Re-read this with my 10 year old. The characters are interesting but especially Erdos is intriguing with his insatiable, but generous and kind drive to collaborate on mathematics. The problems explained are a great jumping off point for a bit of further exploration that does not require more than gradeschool math. Even better on second reading, and with a young one.