Rating: 
Summary: Conveys,very well, Nash's mental and professional state
Review: The book is a fascinating document of enveloping madness. The book documents John Nash's life so well that we get a good picture of the upper reaches of the Math profession and the Halls of Academ. It is very interesting and suspenseful as Ms. Nasar tracks Nash's deteriorating grasp of reality. But so much is revealed that I wonder if Nash truly had paranoid schizophrenia. His early life showed some features I associate with Autism and the "Rainman" experience. The pressure on him to succeed may have just pushed him into a neurotic defense- as perhaps Bobby Fisher may have done. The level of abstraction required to operate at Nash's professional level removes the thinker from reality to a high degree. It requires holding on to huge numbers of totally abstract "realities". As Von Neuman once said, "Holding on to these concepts can only be done for seconds at a time." I wonder if it Nash reached the end of human ability.
Rating: 
Summary: A Thrashing Mind
Review: Interesting book. However, the first word of the title is rather inappropriate. I don't see anything 'Beautiful' about Nash's mind nor his harrowing lifelong experiences. Most of his life was a state of crisis for those who worked with him or loved him. Nash, his family, and friends were, in fact, tragic victims of the power of the human mind when it malfunctions. The book is layed out such that the reader can see how people were able to cope and to grow from such a difficult tragedy. Alicia, his wife/ex-wife is a most fascinating individual. John Nash was a changed man after his recovery, with a much more grounded and rational personality than he ever had when he was at the height of his brilliance. The ending is bittersweet, and rather emoitional; the book certainly gets better the more that one reads into it. It certainly gave me a better understanding of grave mental illness and how that can alter one's intellect and destroy one's potential. What makes it more interesting is that the main characters are still alive and the story is not over yet. I wish Dr. Nash the best in his recovery.
Rating:
Summary: Unbiased, intelligent, thorough biography. Excellent.
Review: It must have been very difficult for a woman to write this book without allowing Nash's character to color her reporting. It is a very interesting three-dimensional portrayal of a complex and very human man. Highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: A tabloid analysis of a human being.
Review: Nash was not a very well like person, certainly not by Sylvia Nasar. Which makes me wonder how she could even spend the time to write this biography. Her analysis of Nash seem to be base on heresay and embarrasing gossip.Her only point of passion in this book, was the character description of the two women in Nash's life.
Rating:
Summary: Great Read
Review: I really enjoyed this book. The author wrote about an individual who I had never heard of and yet I found the story compelling. Especially interesting were the material regarding Nash's interactions with other great mathematicians including Einstein. The author does a good job, trying to convey complex math theories that the average person can grasp. This book is difficult to put down and is highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Good work on astonishing individual!
Review: The author did a lot of research on her subject and with passion and the ability to generate interest and an ability to convay some idea of his mathematical contributions has done a good service both to Nash, his wife and those of us who had not even heard of Nash. There may have been too much emphasis on Nash's early sexual aberations which are likely more of an inmature response to feelings of lonlyness and affection. In any case it tends to detract from Nash and such emotionally charged descriptive behavier would have better been less emphasized. It would have been more interesting to learn of Nash's possible ADD. I also wonder if Nash experimented with drugs such as stimulents which may induce behavier such as Nash's. A lot of very talented mathematicians show signs of ADD early on. Along with that goes social inmaturity and impulsiveness. It is not true that mathematics is restricted to the young. More likely the young with less knowledge are more willing to work on abstractions and as one gains more experience he/she is more interested in specific topics. Liebnitz was over 25 when he began mathematics. Sylvester worked on mathematics into his late 80's. Finally one is left with a sympathetic view of Nash as must have been the case with the many that knew him. One hopes that he is happy and doing well now. One also hopes that this will not be that last work on this sort of subject by the author. Writing on less known people is very valuable. However, perhaps "Run away mind " would have been a better title.
Rating:
Summary: Both a biography and an important work of history
Review: Outstanding account of the complex relationships between mental illness and genius that formed the personality of one of the worlds great mathematicians. The story contains just the right blend of scientific history, psychological insight, technical detail, and biographical fact. Some chapters are worth reading twice since they contain subtle insights that are easily missed.
Rating:
Summary: A Very Interesting Biography
Review: I bought this book having thoroughly enjoyed Gleick's "Genius" (Feynmann) and Kanigel's "The Man Who Knew Infinity" (Ramanujan). I didn't find it quite as engaging as those books, but I do recommend it. There is a wealth of interesting material, and it would be difficult, indeed, not to be moved by the story of a genius who descended into schizophrenia, then, years later, came out again and received the Nobel Prize in Economics. Moreover, there are many fascinating discussions about the Nobel Prize committee, the Putnam competition, the Rand Corporation, the Institute for Advanced Studies, etc. It would have been helped by the inclusion of more detail about the mathematics that Nash did. We are told that Nash was astonishingly original, instantly acquiring insights that others could never achieve, however hard they worked. I don't doubt that's true, but I'd have appreciated more about what, exactly, those insights were.
Rating:
Summary: Tragic but brilliant
Review: Sylvia Nasar has written a great biography of a brilliant but deeply troubled sole. The story is at various times exciting, challenging, tragic and funny. Ultimately it reminds me in many ways, but especially because of the wording near the end, of Robert Pirsig's Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, one of the extremely few books I would rate as six stars on a five-star scale. Both are true stories and, in both, an extremely intelligent but very troubled man is trying to repair his shattered life and be hopeful about the future while dealing with his own problems and those brought on by an equally troubled son. I highly recommend both of these books to anyone who likes to be challenged as well as entertained.
Rating:
Summary: Infinite & Finite Games
Review: Sylvia Nasar's biography of John Nash is truly outstanding. It gives a rare glimpse into the mind of an eccentric mathematical genius. Nash's almost unheard of and mysterious recovery from schizophrenia makes for excellent reading. I have also recently read a biography of David Bohm by Peat. I hope Nasar will consider Bohm as her next subject. His life was certainly as interesting as Nash's. Also his work is, if possible, even more interesting. Bohm deserves a better and deeper treatment than he has received from Peat.
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