A Beautiful Mind

I purchased this book in order to learn about John Nash, Jr.’s life. Instead I found a book that rambled on about all sorts of others, but frequently it took pages and pages to get to John Nash, Jr.’s name or anything that related to him. Here’s a quote that might give you the flavor of this book: “The Rockefellers made their millions in coal, oil, steel, railroads, and banking-in other words, from the great sweep of industrialization that transformed towns like Bluefield and Pittsburg in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. When the family and its representatives started to give away some of the money, they were animated by dissatisfaction with the state of higher education in America and a firm belief that “nations that do not cultivate the sciences cannot hold their own.” Aware of the scientific revolution sweeping Europe, the Rockefeller Foundation and it’s offshoot started by sending American graduate students, including Robert Oppenheimer, abroad.” If you are expecting to see John Nash, Jr.’s name come up you won’t until five pages later and in another Chapter. This type of rambling is found throughout the book and I found a frustration level rising in me that surpassed my desire to read very far into this book. If you are interested in learning about John Nash, Jr. read John Nash, Jr. The Life and Legacy of America’s Most Influential Mathematician, a short, concise writing about him. It may give you the information you seek, but you will most likely not find it within the pages of this book.

In A Beautiful Mind, Sylvia Nassar tracks the life of the mathematical genius John Nash throughout his career and his struggles with schizophrenia. Mirroring the arc of Nashs own life, Nassar splits the book into several parts: the first part covers Nashs early life and mathematical blossoming; the second part elucidates his burgeoning relationships and the importance of connections to the outside world, as well as his growing star and significant mathematical contributions. The third section delves into some of the roots of his coming mental illness, both in terms of mathematical failures and turmoil within his personal life, as well as the first acute symptoms and subsequent hospitalization. The fourth part dives deeply into his downfall and plunge into mental illness, with the psychological reasoning and process behind it. Finally, the fifth portion explores Nashs redemption and acceptance back into the mathematical and economics community, while also exploring his attempts to reconnect with his family members.

Nassar races through Johns early childhood, sprinkling in poignant anecdotes that foreshadow the sort of man he is to become. The story doesnt begin in earnest until Nash discovers his passion for mathematics, after entering the Carnegie Institute of Technology. Nassar then takes us through his mathematical journey, from a talented but unproven graduate student at Princeton, to a young hot-shot paving his way at MIT while performing research for the government at the top-secret RAND Institute. In this journey the reader is immersed in a world of genius, larger than life personalities, and the world of the abstract; throughout, Nassar sprinkles laymens explanations of important theorems and proofs that lay the ground for Nash and then those he contributes to the mathematical canon. During this period, there is some foreshadowing of his future plunge into illness and his downfall from grace. Nassar continues to explore the complex web of politics, Nashs relationships with women, as well as men, and the fascinating world of mathematics. Throughout the book Nassar explores the sometimes seemingly razor-thin line between genius and insanity, something that Nash himself acknowledges in that his wonderful mathematical ideas, as well as delusions, came to him in exactly the same manner.

Overall, Nassar paints a vivid, empathetic, and complex picture of schizophrenia through Nash and the devastation that it can wreak on a persons life, if not properly treated. She flawlessly combines anecdotes, psychological theory and history of the treatment to give the reader an in-depth understanding of the disorder. She also speculates on how Nash came to, if not cure himself, then to become able to control the symptoms in a way to live a normal life and subsequently return to research and academia.

Its no surprise that a 2-hour movie, as good as it was, could never encapsulate such a thorough biography. Nasar captures not only Nash and his work, but the era in which he lived and how the times changed as he got older and his disease progressed and finally receded. She also does a good job of characterizing a protagonist who can be thoroughly selfish and unlikeable.

Presuming that most people considering reading the book have seen the movie, one should know that in some ways the two are apples and oranges due to the two different formats of storytelling. There is no invisible roommate, for example, which was an almost necessary plot device for the movie. Instead, the book provides a much more in-depth and just as fascinating exposition of the day-to-day trials of living with schizophrenia, how much was lost due to the disease, and an appreciation of just how rare a recovery is.

I had to force myself to finish this book. Sometimes Nasar’s narrative flow was confusing as she would jump to one subject in a paragraph and then back to another subject from an earlier paragraph, requiring rereading to figure out the gist. Also, the discussions of Nash’s mathematical explorations and discoveries often got deep into the weeds (unless the reader is a post-graduation mathematician). Nevertheless, one does get a good understanding of the tragic, triumphant life of Nash.

Ive been fascinated with John Forbes Nash for so long, I was wildly excited to read this biography. And Im not displeased, except I found myself jumping pages ahead within the first phase of the book. It was too much science data relative to not just Nash, but to almost every mathematician who has ever published a significant paper. Well that may be a slight exaggeration but it seemed true. I wanted to learn more of his life than science and math greats. I still have questions but still, enjoyed the last half of the book. This is why i gave it the rating I gave I did. If you dont mind wandering through all the math history, or skipping on, I recommend this as a good read

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