Book Review - A Beautiful Mind by Sylvia Nasar

I think this is the first biography I have ever read. More than 12 years back when a lot of what was written in it was more inspirational than educative. I say educative because usually after I finish reading a book, I research further on various facts, topics and characters written in it so that I can relate to the book better and let it stay with me longer. This also helps appreciate a well written book furthermore as it puts the book into a larger, realistic perspective. I didn't do this research thing a lot during my initial years of reading, ( Well, Nancy Drew's adventures didn't really call for any further investigation you see :) ) and hence, a lot of books I read back then didn't have a "personal" epilogue attached to it. And to me, this book in that sense didn't have the necessary understanding of the Nash Equilibrium or the game theory or so many of his other contributions to the fields of mathematics and economics. And then when I watched the movie and read about the prisoner's dilemma (one of the applications of the Nash Equilibrium) in my engineering course work, I went on to re read the rather lengthy book. 

Anyway,  coming back to the review, A Beautiful Mind is a biography of John Nash, a mathematician who made significant contributions in the field of mathematics, economics and computational science. However, he started showing signs of mental illness in his early 30's which was later diagnosed  as paranoid schizophrenia. He spent several years in psychiatric care, which affected his work and his relationship with his wife, friends and colleagues from the academic community. The book also sketches out some of his paranoia about spies and imaginary people sending out messages to him in rather painstaking details. While the book might be lengthy and overtly detailed at times, it held audience and was a fast paced read, despite being a biography.

(Excerpt from the book)

 Story telling is the one skill that comes into play in writing a biography. There are a set of hard facts and events to be told in an entertaining way and a large diverse set of audience to please. Not to mention  the wrath of the critics that a slight deviation or exaggeration can invite. With such high expectations, the author is expected to bring to life "words" that will not only tell an enchanting story, but jump out of the book and enact a play for the reader (with background music et al.) And as my first read of this genre, I am extremely happy with this chance encounter of a book. 


Lastly, the movie adaptation is a simpler, less complex version of the book and  Russell Crowe does complete justice (as usual) to the main character. My personal opinion? Read the book first and watch the movie later (In the unlikely case that you haven't done so already)

Happy Reading!