- Hardcover: 256 pages
- Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; 2nd Edition edition (Oct 28 2009)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 015101406X
- ISBN-13: 978-0151014064
- Product Dimensions: 23.1 x 15.9 x 2.2 cm
- Shipping Weight: 454 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #117,750 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
Product Description
The true story of a mathematical mystery, a million-dollar prize, and the fate of genius in today's world.
In 2006, an eccentric Russian genius named Grigori Perelman solved Poincare's Conjecture, one of seven great unsolved mathamatical mysteries, the solution to any of which the Clay Institute, founded by Boston businessman Landon Clay in 2000 to promote mathematics, promised a million-dollar prize. It is widely expected that the first Clay Prize will be awarded to Perelman in October 2009, and it is equally widely expected that he will decline it. Why?
Masha Gessen set out to find out. In the manner of Nabokov's Real Life of Sebastian Knight, or more recently and accessibly, Sylvia Nasar's A Beautiful Mind, or even Elizabeth Gilbert's The Last American Man, Gessen explores the nature of Perelma's mind and the reasons for his unusual, increasingly isolated behavior.
Drawing on interviews with Perelman's teachers, classmates, coaches, teammates, and colleagues in Russia and the US, Gessen has constructed a gripping and tragic tale that sheds rare light on the nature of genius in the modern world.
In 2006, an eccentric Russian genius named Grigori Perelman solved Poincare's Conjecture, one of seven great unsolved mathamatical mysteries, the solution to any of which the Clay Institute, founded by Boston businessman Landon Clay in 2000 to promote mathematics, promised a million-dollar prize. It is widely expected that the first Clay Prize will be awarded to Perelman in October 2009, and it is equally widely expected that he will decline it. Why?
Masha Gessen set out to find out. In the manner of Nabokov's Real Life of Sebastian Knight, or more recently and accessibly, Sylvia Nasar's A Beautiful Mind, or even Elizabeth Gilbert's The Last American Man, Gessen explores the nature of Perelma's mind and the reasons for his unusual, increasingly isolated behavior.
Drawing on interviews with Perelman's teachers, classmates, coaches, teammates, and colleagues in Russia and the US, Gessen has constructed a gripping and tragic tale that sheds rare light on the nature of genius in the modern world.
About the Author
MASHA GESSEN is a journalist who has written for Slate, Seed, the New Republic, the New York Times, and other publications, and is the author of two previous books. She lives in Moscow.
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Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
Too much of the 'Jewish' angle.,
By
This review is from: Perfect Rigor: A Genius and the Mathematical Breakthrough of the Century (Hardcover)
Masha Gessen lives in Russia. So did Grisha Perelman. Perelman, as you probably know, turned down offers to work in the US, even as tenured professor, and also turned down opportunities to work in Israel. He felt most at home in Russia.Despite this, while discussing his career, Ms. Gessen has used the book as a plank to complain about discrimination against Jews in Russia! This theme is the main feature of story, until of course Perelman spends some time in the US, when she suddenly sympathizes with others, who had to put up with his eccentric habits of personal hygiene! This would have been a better book if the author had kept out the Jewish Angle which is completely inappropriate in a case where the hero decided that the US of A and even Israel itself were fit to be turned down in favor of returning to Russia. Not every story about Jews can be modified to justify the need for a homeland. Just the other day I discussed the book with Tatiana Dubovchenko who was Perelman's classmate in some courses. She was amazed at the tone of the book. As a student in the university and as a Russian married to a Cuban, she is quite certain that the whole math scene was dominated by Jews, far in excess of the two percent claimed by Gessen. It would also have been a better book if a little more of the power of his solution had been typed in instead. But the book is important reading as it is one of the few books on Perelman.
5.0 out of 5 stars
A wonderful book on a unique genius,
This review is from: Perfect Rigor: A Genius and the Mathematical Breakthrough of the Century (Hardcover)
This is a wonderful book about the Soviet and Russian education systems and the unique mathematical genius that they created. Hardly anyone has the intellect of a Grigory Perelman, but any honest independent minded researcher who has had to deal with institutional bureaucracies will read this book a certain sense of déja vu.
2.0 out of 5 stars
Just let the words flow,
By Weimin Chen (Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Perfect Rigor: A Genius and the Mathematical Breakthrough of the Century (Hardcover)
The story is great, but the reading is a pain. The book is full of broken sentences. An example from the top of page 160:For Freedman to frame Perelman's proof as a setback for their once-shared area, (a long two-line sentence shifts in and then we finally come to), had to be hurtful. I wish to send the author a copy of The Elements of Style.
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