My Brain Is Open - by Bruce Schechter (Paperback)

About the Book

For decades, mathematicians the world over would open their doors to find Paul Erdos--homeless and relying on others while he explored the realm of mathematics. Schechter recounts the fascinating story of this brilliant, unusual man who developed, with pencil and paper, the mathematics behind computer science. photo insert.

Book Synopsis

Paul Erdõs, one of the greatest mathematicians of the twentieth century, and certainly the most eccentric, was internationally recognized as a prodigy by age seventeen. Hungarian-born Erdõs believed that the meaning of life was to prove and conjecture. His work in the United States and all over the world has earned him the titles of the century's leading number theorist and the most prolific mathematician who ever lived. Erdõs's important work has proved pivotal to the development of computer science, and his unique personality makes him an unforgettable character in the world of mathematics. Incapable of the smallest of household tasks and having no permanent home or job, he was sustained by the generosity of colleagues and by his own belief in the beauty of numbers.
Witty and filled with the sort of mathematical puzzles that intrigued Erdõs and continue to fascinate mathematicians today, My Brain Is Open is the story of this strange genius and a journey in his footsteps through the world of mathematics, where universal truths await discovery like hidden treasures and where brilliant proofs are poetry.

Review Quotes

Doug Wyatt Savannah Morning News Schechter, with insight, considerable affection, and high humor, admirably intertwines accounts of [Erdõs's] bizarre life with an appreciation of his remarkable achievements.

K.C. Cole author of The Universe and the Teacup: The Mathematics of Truth and Beauty With affection, insight, and humor, Bruce Schechter invites us into the wacky world of mathematical genius Paul Erdõs -- one of the strangest characters to inhabit the world of science. Schechter does an admirably agile job of interweaving real mathematics with the far side of human nature.

Paul Erdõs If numbers aren't beautiful, I don't know what is.

Russ Cardwell The Post and Courier (Charleston, SC) My Brain Is Open is a lively romp through Erdõs' globe-trotting life and into the surreal, exclusive club of the world's great mathematicians.

Michael Hopkins Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Bruce Schechter pulls back the curtain on the peculiar life of the world's most prolific mathematician....We feel so connected to this obsessed gentleman that we regret never having met him.

About the Author

Bruce Schechter holds a Ph.D. in physics from M.I.T. and is a former editor at Physics Today and a former staff writer at Discover. He is the author of The Path of No Resistance, a book about superconductivity.