Rating: 
Summary: THIS IS THE WRONG BOOK.
Review: Well, it's the right book but the wrong cover. This printing has a cover shot of the actor who portrays Nash in the current hit movie. If you are a science and technology buff, you want the earlier printing of the paperback with the photo of the real Nash on the cover. (I have the wrong book and just ordered the right book from Amazon as well.)If your academic life included time as a graduate student in math or the physical sciences, you will want this book. Sylvia Nasar, a journalism professor at Columbia, writes a sensitive chronology that lets this intriguing story of a Nobel-winning mathematician, whose genius wrestled with schizophrenia, come alive without the need for a motion picture. I guess I will do the movie too, but it could not possibly be better than the book. A caution though. While there is no more mathematical jargon than absolutely necessary, this book is perhaps best for those whose academic backgrounds included at least a brief period in a graduate program for math or the physical sciences. The prides, ambitions, fears, and relationships in the world of Princeton, RAND, and MIT PhDs may be too unfamiliar or even boring to others. I guess, too, that the book is a fine study of the world of life on the edge of sanity; and those, unlike me, who are experienced in the fields of psychology may also find interesting content from their view.
Rating: 
Summary: A Fascinating Account of an Obscure Topic and Unlikely Hero
Review: Slyvia Nasar is to be congratulated for delving into the complex world of mathematics, an arcane topic--game theory--,and the prickly Nobel Laureate, John Nash, who did seminal work in the field--and making it interesting. Despite the subject material, one does not need to be a mathematician to gain a vague idea of the world of higher mathematics though some of us, like me, who found Algebra I and 2 a trial, will have eye glaze problems when some of the equations and other mathematical jargon are used. Ms. Nasar organizes the book chronologically and gives good balance to the various phases of Nash's life through a multitude of interviews with persons who knew Nash, supplemented by more limited documentary evidence from letters, publications, and the like. The Princeton parts of the book are well described in recreating the flavor of the town and academic atmosphere. But the real heart of the book is Nash himself, his quirks, his genius, his descent into schizophrenia and, finally, remission and reward. A very interesting sidelight is her revelations about the workings of the secretive Nobel Prize committee. The author is right in stressing that Nash's remission from schizophrenia is, alas, the exception rather than the rule. And she has read about and contacted a number of those active in the field of schizophrenia to make sure her observations are based on current conventional wisdom of this illness. Despite the detail in the book, I came away with some questions: for example, Nash was not a particularly social being--in fact he was often rude and off-putting--in his youth and early years before his breakdown. Were these personality quirks somehow related to schizophrenia, or were they simply byproducts of a "beautiful mind," someone so deeply into the abstract world of deep-think that they have little time or interest in how to be a well-adjusted person? I also thought that Nasar's narrative occasionally was a little cloying to some of her subjects and that she sometimes projected what a person was feeling without indicating how she knew this. But these are minor quibbles. The book is a thought provoking examination of several different "worlds" carried off with considerable panache. Buy it and see the movie--which I intend to do.
Rating:
Summary: A Bluefield, West Virginian Perspective
Review: A Beautiful Mind, was indeed beautiful reading. Nasar, starts from the beginning and follows through with remarkable accounts of John Nash's life. I am a resident of Bluefield, WV; born and raised and it is amazing that someone from our small community has made such an enriching contribution to our society on a global level. I found that this biography was sincerely inspiring and in lighting. Nasar really took her time in researching facts and did an excellent job on her documentation of the truth, whether good or bad.
Nash was a beautiful mind, but he was not without flaws. One could say that he did march to a different beat, but if someone did not we would all up at the same place.
His accomplishments were uncanny, and the most amazing thing to me was that he actually has stood in front of Albert Einstein and discussed theories with him. He has spoke with John McCarthy creator of LISP and John Kemeny creator of BASIC who can say they have done that?
Skip the movie and read the book it will prove to be more rewarding.
Rating:
Summary: Great Writing, Interesting (if not Admirable) Subject
Review: The first thing that has to be said is that Sylvia Nasar is a beautiful writer. She attributes a beautiful mind to John Forbes Nash but her prose is flowing and smooth. Nasar is capable of writing beautifully about human experiences such as pain, friendship, isolation, love, etc... She seems to have a fairly solid background in Economics and Mathematics though one will not learn anything except for the barest bones about Nash's economic and mathematical ideas. The book is very well structured into five parts which seem to correspond quite well to five different parts of Nash's life and the narrative is concise, about 390 pages. Another happy feature is that she gives alot of background about the kind of stuff that was going on in the 1950s, when Nash was doing his most important work, such as work at the RAND Institute where they applied mathematical ideas to Cold War strategy.
While Nasar has read a bit in the psychology of Schizophrenia, I regretted that she didn't really attempt to make any interpretations as to causation of Nash's disease or about the factors responsible for his remission. She has read Gottesman and seems to agree that Schizophrenia has a strong genetic component, which is probably right in my opinion. But why did it happen when it happened, right after he'd gotten married, had a good position at MIT, was well respected in his field? Things seemed to be looking up for Nash; why then?
Another detraction for me is the fact that I am not entirely persuaded of the great explanatory value of Game Theory in economics or social science. I don't know that much about it but from what I do it doesn't seem to be terribly helpful in understanding important aspects of the way the world works.
All in all, this is a well written and interesting story, with a smattering of interesting background information on Mathematics and Economics in the 1950s, the psychology of Schizophrenia, and the struggles of Nash, Alicia and other people to deal with mental illness and cope with life.
Rating:
Summary: Math, the pedal of a right mind
Review: Many words of thanks for Nash.
Like myself, working through lanquages
of mathamatics I have found is intuition
leading to the edge of nonsanctity in repulsions
of hearing other arthors. Nash explodes the
theory that the commonplace in space and time
is no more that, and his new quilt of suspended
explanations open very well to the reader. In words of my own study, I have found at least
three reasons why philosophy of mathamnatics
is only a politcal need: but alas enumerations conclude he is right, the worlds are , and the
times and spaces of math is beyond those doors
commonly presurpassed by geomytry and calc. It is also interesting that beyond math is still
more math, and that all maths gain interweaven
asteriks that seem to break Shapiros mind sampling. I have also read Godel and Escher and found another
group of sceintists ablow in the wind from reference. All in all however it seems, that is Nash and the
popularity of the subject declaims the absolute
subject and sends some mathamaticians into another
lighted pasty, for only the color of math, a rig
about observing that makes its claim. Congratulations Mr Nash, and I hope you can reason
with this review that I myself find the mathamatics
of this age still anxiously plowing through yesterday
a little to closely, but then again, I find your work
likewise myself in the times of math and logic. Thank You
David m Monnig
Rating:
Summary: Excellent biography, but reflexions about "madness" missing.
Review: Only once does Nasar mention the name and the "libertarian views" of THOMAS SZASZ on mental illness and related subjects. Nowhere in the book does she evince a sign of knowing anything about those views. She seems utterly gullible as far as psychiatry is concerned. And so must be Mr. Nash himself, who accepted to address to a psychiatric convention in Madrid in 1996.
Maybe a reading of such SZASZ's underground classics as "The Myth of Mental Illness", "Ideology and Insanity" or "Insanity, the Idea and its Consequences" could shed some light in such points like: "Nash considered insulin comma and shock treatment a torture", "Nash recovered in spite of twenty five years without being treated by psychiatrists", "doubts about Nash'es accurate diagnose as schizophrenic o manic depressive", "mysterious mental illness", "changes in approach from freudian to biologic criteria" and so on. Or the "mysteriously therapeutic action of being awarded the Nobel Prize". Mysterious indeed! After that, Nash increased his "social skills", his wife wanted to marry him again, his old friends called on him as before, his sister is on the phone every week...
I wish Nash himself devoted some thought to these matters. He has given much in the field of mathematics, and has recovered from his "illness" enough as to possess credit again. The film that features Russell Crowe as Nash is going to make him a figure popularly known. That's to say: a genius, and a legend alive and at barely 74! It could be an invaluable service to the cause of liberty and mankind.
Apart from that, NASAR displays extraordinary skills in her treatment of her riveting subject. I read the book when it was first published and was flabbergasted both by Nash and by the literary dexterity of SYLVIA NASAR. Highly recommendable for everyone.
Rating:
Summary: A beautiful book
Review: Some of these first few reviews are a little harsh - I think the book was beautiful and I'll even go along with the mind in question being beautiful - as are all human minds in their own way. Yes, Nash was a jerk - until remission in the late 1980s. Yes, in some ways the author doesn't quite get close enough to her subject, or at least at some points in his life. But let's not forget he's still alive, many of the characters are still alive. A certain amount of respect for privacy is in order, although I presume he doesn't get too much privacy these days. Really is incredible what heights he attained, what depths he then fell to (wandering the halls of Princeton, mumbling to himself, known as "The Phantom" to the students, all through the 70's and 80's) and then where he has managed to bring himself back to (at least through the late 90s), some semblance of normalcy and a return to research. And now lots of fame. Truly amazing and inspiring. And a beautiful book. Take care John and Alicia.
Rating:
Summary: A Mind's Portrait created in Man
Review: What a fantastic research job for Sylvia Nasar and a superb story on a truly enlightening subject,esp. for all those who are involved in the sciences..a historical look at the turning of the ages and the beginning of beautiful discoveries, beyond any ordinary minds expectations. An enticing read and kept the reader glued to the pages. It may be a bit much for those who are not familiar in the fields of science, but if you can ignore the grittiest concepts of mathamatics, and look at the picture as a whole, I think that the reader will still come away with a sense of awe and appreciation to his own level of view. Well done and it's been a very long time that someone out there has published something of this magnitude..a must read. Enjoy!
Rating: 
Summary: Not close enough
Review: After reading his nobel laureate autobiography, brief as it was, I was left unsatisfied by this biography that was too distant in it's approach. It was as though the author was walking twenty feet behind Nash and gave little if any real insight into what he was makng of his environment. It was an interesting time full of interesting characters, many of which the author gives more insight into than Nash himself.
Rating:
Summary: A very enjoyable read
Review: Nasar does an excellent job of introducing us to John Nash and to essential economic concepts such as game theory. The book does several things well. Best of all, it tells the story of John Nash who is one of the one most original thinkers of the twentieth century. We see all sides of Nash: his brilliance, arrogance, childishness, madness, and reawakening. Alicia, his wife, seems nothing less than extraordinary in this story. Nasar also gives us a basic introduction to economic and mathematical theory that is easy to understand and move through. The end result is a well-written and well-told story that is engaging, intelligent, and difficult to put down. I read the book in only two days, and enjoyed every minute.
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