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A review by thomcat
The Man Who Loved Only Numbers: The Story of Paul Erdos and the Search for Mathematical Truth by Paul Hoffman
3.0
Somewhat scattered biography of the Hungarian Paul Erdős, describing his life and his mathematics through anecdotes and examples. Mathematician Ron Graham acted as his factotum and a few chapters act as his biography also. I think the math is accessible to the public, but your mileage may vary.
One of the things that makes Erdős famous is his contributions to papers in math, and these are not just in name only. He fostered young talent where possible and made real contributions to his last days.
Paul is also quirky, and that comes out clearly here. His travels remind me of Moe Berg, both of them itinerant wanderers. Unfortunately this biography also wandered quite a bit. The first portion of the book was solid, but without an index I would have trouble finding topics in the latter half - sometimes visiting math, sometimes history, and sometimes relatives. An index, bibliography, and sources of the many quotes are all here, I just wish they weren't so necessary.
One of the things that makes Erdős famous is his contributions to papers in math, and these are not just in name only. He fostered young talent where possible and made real contributions to his last days.
Paul is also quirky, and that comes out clearly here. His travels remind me of Moe Berg, both of them itinerant wanderers. Unfortunately this biography also wandered quite a bit. The first portion of the book was solid, but without an index I would have trouble finding topics in the latter half - sometimes visiting math, sometimes history, and sometimes relatives. An index, bibliography, and sources of the many quotes are all here, I just wish they weren't so necessary.