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The Man Who Loved Only Numbers

By Paul Hoffman

Product Image: The Man Who Loved Only Numbers

The Man Who Loved Only Numbers

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Description
The biography of a mathematical genius. Paul Erdos was the most prolific pure mathematician in history and, arguably, the strangest too. 'A mathematical genius of the first order, Paul Erdos was totally obsessed with his subject - he thought and wrote mathematics for nineteen hours a day until he died. He travelled constantly, living out of a plastic bag and had no interest in food, sex, companionship, art - all that is usually indispensible to a human life. Paul Hoffman, in this marvellous biography, gives us a vivid and strangely moving portrait of this singular creature, one that brings out not only Erdos's genius and his oddness, but his warmth and sense of fun, the joyfulness of his strange life.' Oliver Sacks For six decades Erdos had no job, no hobbies, no wife, no home; he never learnt to cook, do laundry, drive a car and died a virgin. Instead he travelled the world with his mother in tow, arriving at the doorstep of esteemed mathematicians declaring 'My brain is open'. He travelled until his death at 83, racing across four continents to prove as many theorems as possible, fuelled by a diet of espresso and amphetamines. With more than 1,500 papers written or co-written, a daily routine of 19 hours of mathematics a day, seven days a week, Paul Erdos was one of the most extraordinary thinkers of our times.
Product details
Binding:
Paperback
Number of Pages:
320
Release Date:
1999-06-03
Publication Date:
1999-06-03
Publisher:
HarperCollins Publishers
Languages:
Original: English
ISBN10:
1857028295
ISBN13:
9781857028294
GPSR Manufacturer Reference:
[email protected]
Weight:
240 g
Height:
195 cm
Width:
126 cm
Thickness:
22 cm
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