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A review by benjamintripp
The Man Who Loved Only Numbers: The Story of Paul Erdos and the Search for Mathematical Truth by Paul Hoffman
5.0
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.