The Man Who Loved Only Numbers: The Story of Paul Erdős and the Search for Mathematical Truth in Math is great!

Dec 03, 2011 Adam rated it really liked it

Shelves: mathematics

I very much wanted to give this five stars, but I feel like the story strayed away from Paul Erdős after a while. The book also seems to be slightly scattered at times as well, as if there were so many stories about Erdős that Hoffman just didn’t really know where to begin. So the book sort of jumps around through Erdős life story. After you get used to this way of telling the story it becomes a bit easier to read and is still very enjoyable.

The real reason this lost a star is that this book goe I very much wanted to give this five stars, but I feel like the story strayed away from Paul Erdős after a while. The book also seems to be slightly scattered at times as well, as if there were so many stories about Erdős that Hoffman just didn’t really know where to begin. So the book sort of jumps around through Erdős life story. After you get used to this way of telling the story it becomes a bit easier to read and is still very enjoyable.

The real reason this lost a star is that this book goes on long drawn out tangents that seemingly don’t have much to do with Erdős. If I remember correctly chapter 4 deviated quite a bit with stories of other mathematicians. I understand that math is just rife with amazing and interesting biographies, but I feel too much was put into this book. He tells stories of Fermat, Wiles, Gauss, and all kinds of other people. I realize these people are fascinating, but he did not tie them with Erdős very well in my opinion other than the fact that these people did interesting math, some of which Erdős was interested in as well.

Interviewing Erdős’ friends like Graham makes sense in the context of the story and those tangents were perfectly fine, but what was a bit out there were the mathematical tangents. Hoffman is not a mathematician, so I can understand to some degree as to why he would go on these tangents when he discovered all kinds of curiosities. It’s one of the more endearing aspects of mathematics, once you delve into that world you do want to get a little taste of it. I am not saying that what Hoffman wrote was wrong, I am merely saying that it didn’t seem to have very much to do with the Erdős story. Once in a while Hoffman would maybe realize this and in the midst of a mathematical explanation quote some tidbit Erdős said about the mathematics being discussed. These mathematical excursions mainly happen in chapters 5 and I think they make the story harder for the lay person to grasp. So if you are not well in tune with mathematics or only care about the Erdős story you can easily skip these chapters to some degree.

At that juncture I was getting a bit worried about the book and wondered if it would get back to Erdős. Chapter 7 gives a great in memoriam tale after Erdős’ death and this was a wonderful read. So, in the end the book ended on a high note. Overall this was a fascinating story and I could hardly put the book down. Erdős was an impressive mathematical mind and the world is lessened now that he is no longer here. For those curious about his life and eccentricities, then I would recommend this book.
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