A Beautiful Mind

If you're considering reading this book it is probably because you saw and was interested in the movie of the same title. The movie A Beautiful Mind is absolute bologna! It's a two hour caricature of schizophrenia packaged for Hollywood with the only things actually being factually accurate were that John Nash was indeed diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, suffered from hallucinations and delusions, spent time in institutions, and was awarded the Nobel Prize for Game Theory. Other than that it's Hollywood garbage. I speak of this not only as one who like John Nash has been diagnosed with schizophrenia but as one who feels that the movie is an absolute insult to anyone who carries the burden of the disorder. The movie shows all kinds of symptoms that many people across a wide and varied population sometimes reflect and sometimes do not. Many of which John Nash did and didn't actually exhibit. I mean, who cares about the facts? It's Hollywood! Right? The movie is a largely fictional character with an aggregate of symptoms packaged under the real life name of a man who had severe schizophrenia and made the tremendous accomplishment of winning a Nobel Prize in Game Theory. I of course do not mean to say that his story isn't inspiring but the movie does not concentrate on John Nash as a real person with a terribly debilitating individual disease. People suffering from schizophrenia cannot be grouped into one actor's 2-hour performance with a fake Nobel Laureate speech for the very definition of a Hollywood ending. The crucial thing about the illness schizophrenia is that it is so hard to understand not only by the family and friends of people who suffer from it but by the doctors and the scientific community trying to understand it. The book is a much fuller portrait of a real person, with real individual symptoms, real individual facts, and many life facts that didn't make it into the fit for Hollywood biopic production of the cleaned up life of John Nash. I highly recommend the book to anyone who has a family member struggling with schizophrenia, is a doctor treating people with schizophrenia, someone who actually has been diagnosed with schizophrenia, or is just somebody interested in a fascinating biography concerning somebody who with a debilitating largely misunderstood disease who nonetheless managed to make contributions to society of a genius level stature. This is a book for someone wants to hear the story of John Nash as completely as possible (my only criticism of the book is that it does not include his whole life as it was published during his lifetime and needs to be updated). The book however portray Nash with all his strengths and shortcomings yet still stands as an inspiration for people who suffer from the disease like me or people who do not. Nevertheless the culmination of a man suffering from paranoid schizophrenia winning a Nobel Prize in a story is so much more compelling when said story is actually true.

I really knew little about the effects of schizophrenia, and this book was enlightening! It is really powerful, presented as a narrative, very matter of fact, but still tugs at your emotions. I am amazed at how the people who loved John Nash stuck by his side, even after being let down and frustrated many many times. It certainly helps me understand why there are so many homeless people, because most people would have lost patience and given up. I really enjoyed the book, glad for the happy ending. Happy endings are probably quite rare under the circumstances John Nash endured.

I bought this book because I saw the movie and was both deeply moved by it and intrigued by John Nash's life. During the entire first part of the book, I was somewhat lost because I couldn't match what was going on in the book to what I had just seen in the movie. The movie, it turns out, does not in any real way reflect the true life of John Forbes Nash, and anyone who really wants to know what his struggle was like should read this book. As much as I loved it, I want to warn people that it wasn't what I was expecting. One reviewer said that it "read like a fine novel," but I did not find that to be the case. Ms. Nasar is indeed a fine writer, but don't buy this book if you're looking for fiction. Trust me; I have a degree in English. See the movie instead. This book reflects the stuff of life, and it's complicated. But, as with most things complicated, it's well worth the struggle. Not only was I entertained and enriched by the subject matter, I actually learned a great deal. The movie made it seem as if John Nash wandered around Princeton waiting for his "original thought" to pop into his head, and that once it arrived, he was finished. In reality, John Nash wrote some very important papers during his early years at school, and his game theory was only one of dozens of major contributions he made to the mathematical community during his life. More surprisingly, some of his contributions came during the frenzy of his illness. The movie also depicted John Nash as a fairly charming man, when the truth is that he was quite immature, selfish and downright cruel in most respects. The good news is that the author doesn't try to gloss over or distort the facts in order to build John Nash into some kind of hero. There is no need, because his story is heroic without any hype or distortion. He overcome great tragedy, from his jaded childhood to an unbelievably debilitating mental illness, and became a loving, patient and dedicated parent to his schizophrenic son. Was John Nash a nice person? Most decidedly not. But I find that many extraordinary people, be they scientists, artists, scholars, actors, and the like, lack many of the social skills that us mere "normal" mortals cling to. And I, for one, truly admire Mr. Nash and feel fortunate to have had such an in-depth, comprehensive glimpse into his life. In the end, my only criticism of the book is that it was difficult to follow the timeline and keep track of the people in Nash's life. The author frequently skipped ahead in time and then back to the present, and she recalled characters with no reminder of who they were after not having mentioned them for hundreds of pages. A timeline in the front of the book with names of Nash's colleagues and brief summaries of their connection to him would have been very helpful. Bottom line: A MUST READ -- very few of us will understand everything, but I believe ALL of us will learn something AND feel good about it.

I really loved the movie with Russell Crow. That was why I ended up buying the book. There's so,so much info in the book that I would purchase another edition one day if one was created as a kind of "Dictionary" for the many terms used, as well as layman terms of the mathematical & scientifical theories mentioned thru out it's pages. I would really enjoy to understand EVEN MORE the story behind "A BEAUTIFUL MIND" I'd give it 10 stars if I could!

Da ich schon gelesen hatte, dass die deutsche Übersetzung nicht ganz dem Original gleichkommt, las ich das englische Original. Ich habe es nicht bereut. Die Sprache ist niveauvoll aber nicht unverständlich für einen durchschnittlichen Englisch-LK-ler.

Beautiful story

Like most people I knew of John Nash from the movie "A Beautiful Mind" this book fills in the gaps as well as putting into context a story of a brilliant man.

As an economist, I was eager to get stuck into a biography of John Nash and it was a pleasant surprise that there was a nice balance between the more technical details of Nash's work and the biographical detailsof his life, relationships and descent and remission from schizophrenia. Admittedly, it does take a short while to get goind, exploring Nash's parents' backgrounds and his early life, but it's all for a reason. Nasar does presuppose a limited understanding of mathmatics, and some of the more abstract concepts may have been somewhat lost on me, but that didn't deter me int he slightest. The comprehensive referencing that Naser provides is reassuring that the account will be broadly accurate. I didn't find the writing unduly flattering to Nash's achievements and indeed, ragarding his personal life it did seem to take a "warts and all" approach, giving the subject the objective respect it undoubtedly deserves. Needless to say, the biography did shed a great deal of light on the enigmatic character that is Nash, and I have re-read the book and have no doubt that I will again in the future. As for comparisons against the film - I am a big fan of the motion-picture inspired by this biography, but rest assured that it isn't an accurate account of Nash's life and work, merely an entertaining fictionalisation of it.