Rating: 
Summary: It's Great to be Normal! (Whatever that is)
Review: This schizophrenogenic book is distressing and depressing. The complex sentence structure gives most paragraphs a dual personality, and perhaps it is best that the book reads this way. Improved wordage and punctuation would make the book a lot easier to read, but then we wouldn't appreciate the loose association that comprises schizophrenia.
The mini-editorial comment about the Vietnam War tends to taint the veracity of the author's observations, and the suggestion that Al Gore almost invented auctions for telecommunication frequencies is superfluous to the game theory discussion that follows. The implied relationship between forceps deliveries and a schizophrenic genius is not justifiable, but that commentary helps us understand the author's mindset.
I would be hesitant to recommend this book to those who are interested in mathematics as a career, as it paints a very bleak picture for this profession in general. It is excellent reading for residents in psychiatry, and students in social work and psychology as a case study of a mathematical prodigy. It accurately depicts the politics of academia, and delves into the method of Nobel Prize selection, which is very interesting.
I read the book because I've always liked mathematics, and the geniuses described in this book made me realize how really stupid I am. I came away from the book feeling very normal and relieved that I was not a mathematical prodigy or possessed a photographic memory. I have yet to see the movie, but I doubt that Hollywood can adequately depict the tragic life of John Nash without the addition of dramatic fantasy to create a moneymaking venture.
The content and construction of this book is great for capturing the mood of schizophrenia. I was ready to start on Risperdal at its midpoint and overjoyed to be out of the asylum when it was over.
Rating: 
Summary: A Great Book for Insight About John Nash
Review: I saw the movie and was vey interested to learn more about John Nash. This book gave me the information that I craved. I was shocked to learn about his alternative lifestyle. Although this book contained more information than I needed to know about the world of mathematics and mathematicians, I loved learning about the 'history' of John Nash. I would highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Turn your brain inside out!
Review: If you love to turn your brain inside out, read the whole book. If you just want to learn more about Nash and schizophrenia, start in the middle and work your way to the end. --mmc The first quarter of the book is filled with indepth accounts about the historical origins of the mathematic' departments of MIT, Harvard, Carnegie, Princeton, and The University of Göttengen. Sentences and words like the following continually flooded the pages in the first half of the book: '[John von Neumann], in his freshman year, in a differential geometry course...learned about an unproved conjecture of a Polish topologist, Karol Borsuk, concerning the total curvature of a knotted curve in space.' and '...Somebody asked [von Neumann] to solve The famous fly puzzle: 'Two bicyclists start twenty miles apart and head toward each other, each going at a steady rate of 10 m.p.h. At the same time, a fly that travels...till he is crushed between the two front wheels. Question: what total distance did the fly cover.'--[von Neumann solved it in an instant.]'
[I'm still trying to figure out if the bicycles are American or English--mmc] The second quarter of the book is about Nash's pilgrimage from W.V & high school to different academic institutions and salaried 'think tanks'. He is described as an atheist, rude, and coarse. If you relate to math like me, open the book in the middle, where the photographs are, and start reading from there.
The third quarter of the book describes how Nash's behavior started to change and what people tried to do to help him. Many, many people, including mathematicians and some economists took a personal interest in Nash during and after his stays at private mental hospitals and the less expensive, Trenton State Hospital.
The fourth quarter of the book contains information about how he came out of his schizophrenia (an extremely rare occurance) and excruciatingly specific accounts about how he came to be nominated for and won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1994.
The last 40 pages of the book are all Ms. Nasar's footnotes! I believe the book must have been written as a doctoral thesis. To her credit, Nasar must have spent hundreds and hundreds of hours interviewing people and reading documents.
One quoted critic best matched mine: '[Nasar] is a highly talented interviewer and in some cases seems to unearth material far beyond what one might expect. She gives detailed descriptions...even for the 1994 Nobel Prize in Economics deliberations that were so explosive that they led to a radical restructuring of the prize.'
Rating:
Summary: A Confused Man With A Beautiful Mind
Review: A Beautiful Mind By Sylvia Nasar This book reads better if you recognize the following mathematical genius names; John von Neumann who worked on among other things the A-bombs and H-bombs, John McCarthy who was of the inventors of artificial intelligence, Riemann, a German genius who worked with mathematics on geometric objects and on...O' I almost forgot a name that all of the readers know, Einstein, and his theory of relativity. The book is the biography of a man, John Nash. Sylvia Nasar spent a lot of time digging up very detailed information for this book. John Nash fits into this company of mathematical geniuses with no trouble. He was born in West Virginia and went on to graduate from the Princeton University where he invented game theory. John was not a likeable person he definitely did not have much, if any, emotional intelligence he mumbled when he spoke, did not look you in the eye, and did not make friends. But he had a beautiful mind for mathematic problems that allowed him to be valuable to the human race. After ups and downs he 45 years later won Nobel Prize in mathematics for his game theory. John Nash would spend as much as a year on a tough math problem and then, from out of the blue, come up with a solution. John fathered a boy with a nurse, Eleanor. He refused to pay for the birth of the boy and did not marry Eleanor. Later he married Alicia who nurtured and committed him to a hospital by turns. She had borne him a son in one of his lurid moments before he had a nervous breakdown. She was forced to divorce him later although they were together most of the time. John was not a nice person to know when he was young before his breakdown at 31 years of age when he was analyzed as schizophrenia. There is a bit of a mystic story that a mathematic genius does his best work by he time he is 30 and as John got closer to that age he worried about his mathematic ability becoming mediocre. Over a period of time John became more schizophrenic until he had a nervous breakdown when he was diagnosed as schizophrenia. This is common enough with very intelligent people who spent most of their time thinking as an occupation. There is a great deal in this book about the disease(?) schizophrenia. Some times it is difficult to recognize the difference whether one is a genius or a schizophrenic. Only the work that they do differs, in one case it is coherent and to a knowledgeable person beautiful, or when studied proves to be completely bad and crazy. It may change from one moment to another. In the case of John, schizophrenia took him to Europe where he got into all kinds of trouble trying to fine himself. If his brain had not been so valuable to the world he might have disappeared as so many do with his problem. I know a little about schizophrenic myself--having a sister and an aunt who suffered from the malady.
Rating:
Summary: Better than the movie
Review: If you want to get an understanding of John Nash, and/or a better feeling for what mental illness is about, I'd recommend you read the book rather than see the movie. Not that the movie is bad, but it seems to contain a lot of speculative stuff about what might have been going on in Nash's mind. The book is well researched and well written.
Rating:
Summary: Detailed look at a true genius' life
Review: I am 16 and an avid reader. I admit I skipped the passages explaining the mathematics as I am no math whiz. Truly I despise math, but reading Nash's story was intriguing to say the least. Even at 16 I understand the struggle and hardship that Nash and his family had to go through while Nash was in the midst of schizophrenia. I recommend this book for any reader who wants an intriguing, detailed look at a true genius' life.
Rating:
Summary: Great writing style.
Review: Anybody who can get through the first 100-pages is well on there way to reading a great book. The beginning is very dry, but it is defintely worth the read. Just really need to remain focused on that book, alone, when you are reading it.
Rating: 
Summary: more information than you need or want
Review: If you want a detailed account of the life of John Nash - along with a detailed account of everyone and everything that touched his life, then this is your book. Well written but much too much information for the non-scientist. And I never did find an explanation of his game theory.... was it ever really explained or only its impact?
Rating:
Summary: As biographies go, this is not very good
Review: This was a decent book, but not worth the time unless you really
have a fascination for John Nash. It's by no means a better story than the similarly titled movie
(I forgive movies of most inaccuracies, if the story is
good, unless the movie bills itself as a documentary).
On top of this, it is actually a very poor attempt at writing
a biography. Far too many times, Nasar cites other biographies
of other "geniuses", and will write something like "Just as
a biographer of Richard Feynman wrote... And this is true
of John Nash..." If you've read biographies of Feynman,
Ramanujan, and Sobel's Longitude, then you start to see that
Nasar has no problem depending upon others' works as a crutch
for her own lack of innovative storytelling. This aspect is
truly pathetic. As for the story of John Nash - what do we learn? He thought
he was pretty bright, and others did as well. Does it give us
any insight for our own lives? Not really. Very little seems
to be recorded of his development. Feynman's own biographies
are much better insights into the mind of an original thinker.
On top of this, Feynman and others have an enduring record of
major breakthroughs. I can't say the same of Nash, based upon
this book. Overall, if you're looking for an enlightening or entertaining
read, then look elsewhere. It's a decent book, as books go,
but not among the top half of books in its category.
Rating:
Summary: Quite a journey....
Review: Initially, I was intimidated by the amount of mathematical theory and high-level concepts that this book presented alongside the life of John Nash, but how can a biography do a mathematical genius justice without it? For those who persevered through the heavily math-laden sections of the text, I think Nasar did a great job making it as accessible as possible for the average reader, like myself. The story of John Forbes Nash, Jr. is, without a doubt, an intriguing one. As I read along and discovered the difficulties and hurdles associated with schizophrenia I steadily began to wonder what it must feel like, first, to be a genius, second, to be a genius increasingly out of touch with what he loves most. Nash's life was one of isolation, first due to his incredible ability to think, and then because of his outrageous ideas and delusions. His odd little ways, along with his progressively more noticeable mental illness, took away many of the chances at greatness that Nash had always felt were just on the horizon.
The devotion of his wife, Alicia, was Dr. Nash's saving grace at times. Even though she had to separate from him to get a bit of perspective on life and just take a break, she never turned her back on him. Alicia was always willing to help his life and career whenever possible. It's quite astounding that Nash was able to endure so many years of hellish mental turmoil and come out on the other side to receive one of the greatest of all honors...the Nobel Prize. Throughout the book, I constantly found myself pulling for Nash and longing to give his naysayers a good slap. His mind and his genius are truly beautiful, and I believe Dr. Nash is one of America's greatest treasures. I feel enriched by this story and reminded that all things are possible with determination, support, and perhaps a little good luck thrown in for good measure. Even though the book is difficult at times, give it a go...I don't think you'll regret it.
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