Título: The Man Who Loved Only Numbers
Autor: Paul Hoffman
Sinopse: Paul Erdös was an amazing and prolific mathematician whose life as a world-wandering numerical nomad was legendary. He published almost 1500 scholarly papers before his death in 1996, and he probably thought more about math problems than anyone in history. Like a traveling salesman offering his thoughts as wares, Erdös would show up on the doorstep of one mathematician or another and announce, "My brain is open." After working through a problem, he'd move on to the next place, the next solution. Hoffman's book, like Sylvia Nasar's biography of John Nash, A Beautiful Mind, reveals a genius's life that transcended the merely quirky. But Erdös's brand of madness was joyful, unlike Nash's despairing schizophrenia. Erdös never tried to dilute his obsessive passion for numbers with ordinary emotional interactions, thus avoiding hurting the people around him, as Nash did. Oliver Sacks writes of Erdös: "A mathematical genius of the first order, Paul Erdös was totally obsessed with his subject--he thought and wrote mathematics for nineteen hours a day until the day he died. He traveled constantly, living out of a plastic bag, and had no interest in food, sex, companionship, art--all that is usually indispensable to a human life." The Man Who Loved Only Numbers is easy to love, despite his strangeness. It's hard not to have affection for someone who referred to children as "epsilons," from the Greek letter used to represent small quantities in mathematics; a man whose epitaph for himself read, "Finally I am becoming stupider no more"; and whose only really necessary tool to do his work was a quiet and open mind. Hoffman, who followed and spoke with Erdös over the last 10 years of his life, introduces us to an undeniably odd, yet pure and joyful, man who loved numbers more than he loved God--whom he referred to as SF, for Supreme Fascist. He was often misunderstood, and he certainly annoyed people sometimes, but Paul Erdös is no doubt missed. --Therese Littleton --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Contexto da obra
Quando a classificação é mais ampla, o contexto do livro costuma depender ainda mais de autoria, tema e edição. “The Man Who Loved Only Numbers”, de Paul Hoffman, publicado pela editora Hyperion, em 1999 e com 352 páginas, integra a categoria Livros Variados. Por isso, autoria, edição e tema acabam tendo ainda mais peso na forma de apresentar o livro.
Editora: Hyperion
Páginas: 352
Ano: 1999
Edição:
Linguagem: inglês
ISBN: 0786884061
ISBN13: 9780786884063
Sobre a editora
Os livros da editora Hyperion apresentam uma variedade de narrativas que transitam entre o drama pessoal e o fantástico, muitas vezes explorando relações humanas complexas em contextos contemporâneos. A experiência de leitura costuma ser marcada por personagens que enfrentam dilemas emocionais profundos, seja na juventude, na vida adulta ou em situações de perda e superação. O tom varia do humor irônico e autodepreciativo a momentos mais densos e reflexivos, com ritmo que ora acelera em conflitos familiares ou romances, ora desacelera em relatos intimistas e fábulas. As sinopses sugerem um catálogo que privilegia histórias com carga afetiva e personagens vulneráveis, em cenários que vão do cotidiano urbano até universos com elementos sobrenaturais discretos.
