A Beautiful Mind
Authors: Sylvia Nasar
Tags: #Biography & Autobiography, #Mathematics, #Science, #Azizex666, #General
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Praise for
A Beautiful Mind
“Two paragraphs and I was hooked!” — Oliver Sacks
“A brilliant book.” — David Herbert Donald
“Reads like a fine novel.” — David Goodstein,
The New York Times
“Powerfully affecting … a three-handkerchief read.” — Charles C. Mann,
The Wall Street Journal
“A triumph of intellectual biography.” — Robert Boynton,
Newsday
“Might be compared to a Rembrandt portrait, filled with somber shadows and radiant light effects… simply a beautiful book.” — Marcia Bartusiak,
The Boston Globe
“A remarkable look into the arcane world of mathematics and the tragedy of madness.” — Simon Singh,
The New York Times Book Review
“A narrative of compelling power.” — John Allen Paulos,
Los Angeles Times
“A wonderfully absorbing puzzle.” — Claire Douglas,
Washington Post Book World
“A poetical love and coming-of-age story.” — Ted Anton,
Chicago Tribune
“The stuff of classic tragedy.” — Robert A. Burton,
San Jose Mercun News
“A powerful story brilliantly told.” — Will St. John,
Detroit Free Press
“A worthy subject and a fascinating book.” — Craig Ryan,
Portland Oregonian
“A page-turner.” — Claiborne Smith,
Austin Chronicle
“An arresting portrait.” — June Kinoshita,
St. Petersburg Times
“The parabolic arc of an American genius … superbly and thrillingly limned.” — Will Blythe,
Mirabella
“A staggering feat of writing and reporting.” — Michael J. Mandel,
BusinessWeek
“Profoundly sad yet redemptive.” —
Worth Magazine
“Instead of facile theories, the reader enjoys wonder and astonishment.” — Richard Dooling,
Salon
“Extraordinarily moving.” — Jeremy Bernstein,
Commentary
“Absolutely fascinating.” — Jim Holt,
Slate
“An engrossing, ultimately uplifting book.” — Gregg Sapp,
Kirkus Reviews
“Will touch any reader who understands what it means to hope — or to fear.” —
Booklist
“Unique.” —
The Economist
“A compelling book about a phenomenal figure.” — Rov Porter,
The Times
“Unblinking yet empathic.” — Daniel Kevles,
Times Literan Supplement
“A romantic human story.” — Steven McCaffery,
Irish News
“Genuinely compulsive.” — Jon Oberlander,
Sunday Herald
“An astonishing achievement.” — Brian Rotman,
London Review of Books
“A masterpiece of oral history.” — Karl Sigmund,
Nature
“Be prepared for the birth of a new culture hero.” — Peter Wilhelm,
Business Dav
“I defy anyone to read Sylvia Nasar’s prologue without being moved.” — Christopher Beauman,
Broadway Ham & High
“A magnificent biography.” — Roy Weintraub,
Journal of the History of Economic Thought
“High drama.” — Wade Roush,
MIT Technology Review
“Deeply moving.” — Paul Trachtman,
Smithsonian Magazine
“Presented with grace and skill.” — Brian Hayes,
The Sciences
“A must-read with something for everyone.” — Keith Devlin,
New Scientist
“Fascinating, complicated, and studious.” — Mark H. Fleisher,
JAMA
“A deeply moving love story, an account of the centrality of human relationships.” — Richard Wyatt and Kay Jamison,
The New England Journal of Medicine
“A gripping narrative.” — Kenneth Arrow, Nobel Laureate,
The Times Higher Education Supplement
| Simon & Schuster Paperbacks |
Copyright © 1998 by Sylvia Nasar
All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.
Cover Art © 2001 by Universal Studios Publishing Rights, a Division of Universal Studios Licensing, Inc.
A Beautiful Mind is a trademark and copyright of Universal Studios.
All rights reserved.
First Simon & Schuster trade paperback edition July 2011
SIMON & SCHUSTER PAPERBACKS and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Manufactured in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows:
Nasar, Sylvia.
A beautiful mind : a biography of John Forbes Nash, Jr.,
winner of the Nobel Prize in economics, 1994/
Sylvia Nasar
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Nash, John F., 1928– . 2. Mathematicians —
United States — Biography I. Title
OA29.N25N37 1998
510’.92
[B]— DC21 98-2795
ISBN-13: 978-0-684-81906-8
ISBN-10: 0-684-81906-8
ISBN-13: 978-1-4516-2842-5 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-4391-2649-3 (ebook)
The author and publisher gratefully acknowledge permission to reprint material from the following works:
“The RAND Hymn,” words and music by Malvina Reynolds, © copyright 1961 by Schroeder Music Co. (ASCAP). Used by permission. All rights reserved. “John F. Nash Jr.” (Autobiographical Essay) and “The Work of John Nash in Game Theory” (Nobel Seminar), in Les Prix Nobel 1994 (Stockholm: Norstedts Tryckeri, 1995). Copyright © The Nobel Foundation, 1994. Excerpts from “Waking in the Blue” from Life Studies by Robert Lowell. Copyright © 1959 by Robert Lowell. Copyright renewed © 1987 by Harriet Lowell, Sheridan Lowell, and Caroline Lowell. Reprinted by permission of Farrar, Straus & Giroux, Inc. Excerpts from the letters of Robert Lowell reprinted with the permission of the Estate of Robert Lowell.
F
OR
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LICIA
E
STHER
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ARDE
N
ASH
Another race hath been, and other palms are won.
Thanks to the human heart by which we live,
Thanks to its tenderness, its joys, and fears,
To me the meanest flower that blows can give
Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears.
— WILLIAM WORDSWORTH,
“Intimations of Immortality”
2: Carnegie Institute of Technology (
June 1945–1948
)
3: The Center of the Universe (
Princeton,
Fall 1948
)
4: School of Genius (
Princeton,
Fall 1948
)
6: Games (
Princeton,
Spring 1949
)
7: John von Neumann (
Princeton,
1948–49
)
9: The Bargaining Problem (
Princeton,
Spring 1949
)
10: Nash’s Rival Idea (
Princeton,
1949–50
)
12: The War of Wits (
RAND,
Summer
1950
)
14: The Draft (
Princeton,
1950–51
)
15: A Beautiful Theorem (
Princeton,
1950–51
)
18: Experiments (
RAND,
Summer
1952
)
22: A Special Friendship (
Santa Monica, Summer
1952
)
25: The Arrest (
RAND,
Summer 1954
)
29: Death and Marriage (
1956–57
)
Part Three: A Slow Fire Burning