Masha Gessen

Relates the story of the mathematical genius who solved one of the world's greatest intellectual puzzles--the Poincarâe conjecture--but could not cope with the reality of human affairs, causing him to withdraw first from the field he loved, and then fromthe world in general.

A Genius and the Mathematical Breakthrough of the Century

Perfect Rigor

Overall, this was a phenomenal character study in how to build a nurture an anti-social genius, along with a look into the world of mathematics in general and Russian mathematics in particular. Gessen's writing was lucid and engaging down to the sentence level. Truly, at one point she used the word "timeless" in a more apt manner than any other writer I can think of.
My only complaint came as the actual solution to the Poincarè Conjecture surfaced. As a not-mathematician, there was either too much focus on the technical elements of the solution or too little. Recognizing that there probably are and certainly will be books on Ricci flow with surgery and topology, I haven't read any of them. I needed more time spent explaining things, possibly some visuals to help, or much less time. It's a relatively small part of the book, but pulled me from the narrative and I got worried about the remainder.
Regardless, this was a very good book.

Perfect Rigor A Genius and the Mathematical Breakthrough of the Century

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