The man who loved only numbers : the story of Paul Erdos and the search for mathematical truth / by Paul Hoffman

Includes bibliographical references (p. [279-288]) and index.

This is the story of Paul Erdos, a charming yet quirky mathematician born in Hungary, who forsook all creature comforts -- including a home -- to pursue his lifelong study of numbers. It is a fascinating tale of a man who possessed unimaginable powers of thought yet was unable to manage some of the simplest daily tasks. But more than that, it brilliantly uses Erdos's work to explain the great mathematical discoveries of all time, in all their beauty and simplicity. For more than six decades, Erdos lived out of a tattered suitcase, traveling the world chasing mathematical problems and fresh talent. He had no wife, no children, no job or hobbies, yet those who knew him were intrigued by his every move and thought. He gave his love to numbers -- and they returned in kind, revealing their secrets to him as they did to no other mathematician of this century. Based on a National Magazine Award-winning article, and extensive interviews over a ten-year period, Paul Hoffman's biography of Erdos gives an intimate look at the vibrant life of the great mathematician. It follows the career and achievements of a philosopher-scientist whose way of life was as inconceivable as the theorems he devised, yet whose accomplishments continue to enrich and inform the world he left behind.