Name: A beautiful mind
ISBN: 078624223X

Sylvia Nasar

A beautiful mind

The Life of Mathematical Genius and Nobel Laureate John Nash

A Beautiful Mind

Sarah Sammis

A Beautiful Mind isn't so much a biography of John Nash as it is a who's who of Nash's friends and colleagues. Nearly every chapter is about someone he worked with or was infatuated with or a rival of. There is very little time spent on John Nash although that's probably a good thing. From what I can tell, Nash was a jackass.

A Beautiful Mind is Sylvia Nasar's award-winning biography about the mystery of the human mind, the triumph over incredible adversity, and the healing power of love.At the age of thirty-one, John Nash, mathematical genius, suffered a devastating breakdown and was diagnosed with schizophrenia. Yet after decades of leading a ghost-like existence, he was to re-emerge to win a Nobel Prize and world acclaim. A Beautiful Mind has inspired the Oscar-winning film directed by Ron Howard and featuring Russell Crowe in the lead role of John Nash.

Lacy W

Title: A Beautiful Mind
Author: Sylvia Nasar
Genre: Biography
Format: Library-Paperback
Star Rating: 3 stars

Okay, so I really liked this book. The only reason I know about the book is that I really enjoyed the movie and was told it was a book first. It was a good book as I mentioned above, but there is a pretty big reason why I gave it three stars. It was all the math jargon! I couldn't understand a damn word of it. I was never a mathlete in school. Math has been the bane of my existence since the beginning of school. I can't even do simple additions in my head. For example 44+56. I can't do that in my head.

I'll elaborate further in a bit but first, let me give a brief overview. This book is about John Nash, who is a gifted genius. He can do complicated math problems in his sleep. He also suffers from schizophrenia, a seriously debilitating mental illness. It robs you of who you are. It robs you of normal relationships with people. It's hard to overcome this illness, especially if it is very severe.

Schizophrenia is a mental illness in which you hear voices, seeing things that aren’t there or a combination of both. Schizophrenia also affects the thought process. Thoughts are often disordered and reality is skewed. Speech and motor skills are affected as well. You can check out this site for more information about schizophrenia. 

I tried to keep this in mind while reading it since I had seen the movie in school before I read the book. In the movie, they only capture the adult part of his life and only a brief segment of it. The movie did a fairly good job but it could have been better. But while reading this book, I couldn't help but think that Nash was kind of a dick. Even before he was diagnosed with schizophrenia, he just seemed like a really rude kid and an even ruder adult. I am going to be honest and say that I know very little about schizophrenia. I have a bachelor's in Psychology but that doesn't mean I know everything. I'll probably be bashed for saying such a thing knowing what I know but I can't help what I feel, you know?

Anyway, the book describes Nash's life up until the end when he wins his Nobel Prize. Throughout the course of this book, the author goes into great detail discussing the formulas Nash solves and comes up with. Now don't get me wrong. I know it is an important part of the story but did it have to be so damn detailed? I had to gloss over the math jargon because I simply could not understand it. The author tried to explain it in simpler terms but you would still have to have a master's in order to understand the language that was used.

That is what really killed the book for me. I still stuck it out because I was waiting to get to the schizophrenia part of his life and how that affected him. But it took so long. I debated about not finishing this book because I was not sure I was going to be able to get past the math. But I prevailed and I did it. I'm glad that I was able to get past it but it came at a cost.

This book isn't for everybody. If you enjoy math and love that kind of stuff, this is the book for you. However, if you don't enjoy math but enjoy biographies, be prepared. It's dryer than most biographies I have read. It will challenge you and you will have to fight through this book. But in the end, if you make it, it's worth it. You can also watch the movie to help supplement your understanding of the book.

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A Beautiful Mind is Sylvia Nasar's award-winning biography about the mystery of the human mind, the triumph over incredible adversity, and the healing power of love. At the age of thirty-one, John Nash, mathematical genius, suffered a devastating breakdown and was diagnosed with schizophrenia. Yet after decades of leading a ghost-like existence, he was to re-emerge to win a Nobel Prize and world acclaim. A Beautiful Mind has inspired the Oscar-winning film directed by Ron Howard and featuring Russell Crowe in the lead role of John Nash.

A beautiful mind

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