The Corner

Derb Makes Wired

“Wired,” a magazine — an excellent one — for propeller-head geeks (a

category to which I myself once belonged) has given Prime Obsession a

mention. Here is Jim Raskin, creator of the Macintosh and author of “The

Humane Interface: New Directions for Designing Interactive Systems,” writing

in the current “Wired”:

“There have been a lot of books about eccentric mathematicians, but Bernhard

Reimann blows the stereotype away. He had a quiet family life, was shy, and

didn’t go crazy like John Nash. It’s nice to read about someone ordinary

who was perhaps as bright a mathematician as has ever been. Derbyshire goes

into great depth, and the math is quite difficult. If you’re interested in

it, there it is – the real equations. But if you’re not, you can skip it.

This is one of the best mathematical biographies I’ve read – and I’ve read a

lot.”

This is high praise, from an uber-geek. I blush.

The Paperback edition of Prime Obsession is now available for $10.50 on

Amazon. Buy it! My children are

hungry!

John Derbyshire — Mr. Derbyshire is a former contributing editor of National Review.
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