Review by New York Times Review
Two picture books follow Paul Erdos and Albert Einstein on lifelong journeys of curiosity and scientific discovery. THE BOY WHO LOVED MATH The Improbable Life of Paul Erdos By Deborah Heiligman Illustrated by LeUyen Pham 48 pp. Roaring Brook Press. $17.99. (Picture book; ages 3 to 8) ON A BEAM OF LIGHT A Story of Albert Einstein By Jennifer Berne Illustrated by Vladimir Radunsky 56 pp. Chronicle Books. $17.99. (Picture book; ages 6 to 9) WHEN I was a kid, I could multiply two-digit numbers in my head. Take 48 and 54, for example. (The answer is 2,592.) I would visualize the numbers as though I were solving the problem in longhand. And I would almost always get the answer right It's a feat of concentration I find almost impossible today. There are just too many adult distractions: the flight I haven't booked, the laundry I haven't done, the out-oftown visitors I haven't arranged for. Multiplication - isn't there an app for that? Indeed, many mathematicians are renowned for making their most profound discoveries early in their lifetimes. But there are exceptional cases, like the Hungarian Paul Erdos. Erdos was productive well into his 80s (he died while attending a mathematics conference in 1996). He was the co-author of so many papers that mathematicians refer to something called the Erdos Number, which works like the game Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, but with academic citations. (My Erdos Number, for instance, is 4: I once wrote a paper with the Columbia statistician Andrew Gelman, who wrote a paper with Radford Neal, who wrote one with Persi Diaconis, who wrote one with Erdos.) And yet, Erdos concentrated on areas, like number theory, that are often associated with prodigies, developing proofs that were known for their comparative simplicity. Now Erdos is the hero of Deborah Heiligman's energetic new children's book, "The Boy Who Loved Math." It should make excellent reading for nerds of all ages. The book is not a mathematics primer. Heiligman includes a straightforward discussion about how prime numbers work, and there are LeUyen Pham's precise and playful illustrations, which are full of hidden mathematical allusions and puzzles. But Heiligman focuses on Erdos's personal story. She describes Erdos as a child who was bored in school on his best days and who acted out on his worst ones. (He would eventually be home-schooled.) And she portrays Erdos as an adult who would never entirely grow up. Erdos, in Heiligman's telling, never learned how to cook, do laundry or pay his bills - anything that might distract him from his math. He was essentially homeless for much of his life, traveling between conferences and friends' spare bedrooms. Heiligman has been influenced (as she acknowledges) by Paul Hoffman's 1998 book," The Man Who Loved Only Numbers: The Story of Paul Erdos and the Search for Mathematical Truth." But she resists the conclusion implied by Hoffman's title. "Numbers and people were his best friends," she writes of Erdos. She also avoids some subjects that would be inappropriate for young readers. Heiligman does not mention that Erdos never married (and was probably celibate). She notes that Erdos had a predilection for drinking "lots and lots of coffee," but not that he also took amphetamines for much of his life. Nonetheless, the book celebrates Erdos's eccentricities. There is no hint of scolding for Erdos's insubordination in school - nor any judgment cast against him for his intense interest in mathematics. "He didn't like rules in life, but he liked rules in numbers," Heiligman writes, sympathetically. Albert Einstein's Erdos Number is 2 (both he and Erdos wrote papers with the German mathematician Ernst Straus). And as Jennifer Berne's "On a Beam of Light" reminds us, the two men had much else in common. Einstein was a difficult child ("Little Albert was so different; was there something wrong?") who "didn't want to be like the other students." Instead, he was prone to daydreaming, imagining himself on a beam of light rocketing through space. Perhaps appropriately, "On a Beam of Light" has a daydreamy feel. The prose isn't as wry as Heiligman's, and the illustrations (beautifully done by Vladimir Radunsky) are more whimsical. It's more emphatically a children's book. But it has the same basic frog-into-prince premise. Einstein's awkward childhood is followed by a prolific adulthood. His disdain for rules - Einstein hated wearing socks! He ate ice cream whenever he wanted! - enables him to retain his childlike imagination and perceive the universe's secrets. Together, the books constitute something of an It Gets Better Project for mathematically precocious children, offering the same sort of affirmation that is now being given to gay and lesbian adolescents. Left unsaid is how Erdos and Einstein might have grown up differently had they been children today. Would young Einstein be characterized as belonging somewhere on the autism spectrum? Would Erdos have been given a diagnosis of A.D.H.D.? Berne applies the label most people associate with Einstein: "genius." She seems to feel that genius relieves Einstein of the ordinary burdens of adulthood, as if he were Peter Pan with a pocket protector. "For the first time in his life," Berne writes, "people started to say, 'Albert is a genius!' Now Albert could spend all his days doing what he loved - imagining, wondering, figuring and thinking." One slight problem is that the very exclusivity of the genius club might make it difficult for young readers of "On a Beam of Light" to empathize with Berne's Einstein. If you're a genius, you can eat as much ice cream (and do as much math) as you like. But you probably aren't one - so then what? It's easier to feel a kinship with Heiligman's Erdos. Although Heiligman conspicuously avoids assigning labels to Erdos, he's basically a bit of a nerd. But that old cafeteria put-down is undergoing a transformation. More and more, it is applied to - and used by - people who take an intense interest in a particular subject, and who do so with pride. Few of us might be Erdos or Einstein, but we can all aspire to be nerds. Nate Silver is the author of "The Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail - but Some Don't." He writes the FiveThirtyEight blogfor NYTimes.com.
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [July 14, 2013]
Review by Booklist Review
*Starred Review* Though eccentric mathematician Paul Erdos might seem an unusual subject for a picture book, his story makes for a memorable biography. Growing up in Hungary during WWI, Erdos tried school but chafed at the rules and convinced his mother that he should study at home. He was fascinated by numbers from an early age, and by the time he was 20, he was known as The Magician from Budapest. Unable to do common tasks such as cooking, laundry, or driving, he spent his adult life flying around the world, staying with other mathematicians, and working collaboratively on challenging math problems. Math is woven into the lively writing (Mama loved Paul to infinity. Paul loved Mama to 8, too!). The wonderfully vivid artwork, where ideas from the text are clarified, also uses decorative elements to support the idea that Erdos saw the world differently numerically. Heiligman appends a lengthy note about writing the book, while Pham offers a more extensive note on creating the illustrations, in which she comments on the mathematical ideas and mathematicians depicted in the art. This excellent picture-book biography celebrates a man little known outside his field, but one well worth knowing.--Phelan, Carolyn Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
As a boy in Budapest, Paul Erdos (1913-1996) had problems to solve, but they didn't involve math. Rules were a problem, and school was another: "Paul told Mama he didn't want to go to school anymore. Not for 1 more day, for 0 days. He wished he could take days away-negative school days!" Heiligman and Pham cleverly incorporate mathematical references through this story, which follows Erdos from a numbers-obsessed boy to a numbers-obsessed man who flouted societal norms and couch-surfed the globe-other mathematicians were honored to have him as a guest for the chance to talk math with him. Erdos's unconventional brilliance shines through on every page, and extensive author and illustrator notes (including Pham's explanations of the mathematical concepts she works into each illustration) will delight readers with even a fraction of Erdos's interest in math. Ages 3-8. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 3-6-Erdos (1913-1996), the Hungarian-born son of two math teachers, displayed his fascination with numbers early on. Before entering school he could calculate the number of seconds a person had lived just by asking the time and date of their birth. Unable to sit still and follow rules in school, he was homeschooled by his mother. High school was a better fit, and he made friends with students who shared his love of math. His skills became famous, but Erdos didn't know how to do laundry, cook, or even butter his own bread. He "didn't fit into the world in a regular way." So, he created a life that fit him instead. For years he flew around the world, his modest belongings in two suitcases, working with other noted mathematicians. They worked on number and set theory as well as new ideas like combinatorics and the probabilistic method. Some of their efforts led to the better computers and search engines that we use today. The well-researched text and painstakingly accurate illustrations (in terms of setting and mathematics) provide a fascinating introduction to the man. The oversize eyes of the characters give many of them, especially Erdos, a rather maniacal look that is off-putting. The extensive endnotes provide much information and would be useful in a classroom setting. That may be the most likely scenario for exposing children to this picture-book biography. Only the most mathematically devoted would pick it up on their own.-Sara-Jo Lupo Sites, George F. Johnson Memorial Library, Endicott, NY (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
Heiligman and Pham combine their considerable talents in this unique look at the "Magician from Budapest," nomadic mathematician Paul Erdos (1913-96). A precocious youngster, Paul hates rules. Cared for by his doting mother and imperious "Fraulein," young Paul is spoiled rotten -- the two women "cut his meat and buttered his bread and got him dressed and tied his shoes." But where the mundane details of daily life don't do much for Paul, numbers are a different story. Paul "thought about math whatever he was doing, wherever he was" as he grows into one of the world's renowned intellectuals. Not one for settling down, Paul travels the world, lecturing and attending math meetings, all while others "did his laundry and cooked his food and cut open his grapefruit and paid his bills." Heiligman presents Paul as an appealing eccentric: for instance, Paul referred to children as "epsilons" (because epsilon "is a very small amount in math"). Pham's artwork is inspired -- her characters have a timeless quality, and each illustration is a puzzle for the reader to solve, with prime numbers hidden on buildings and complex numerical concepts seamlessly integrated into the fabric of many pictures. While the overall layout is high in reader appeal, the font size is far too small for the target audience. Especially tiny are the otherwise excellent author's and illustrator's notes, which further demonstrate their respect and admiration for Erdos and are well worth the potential eye strain. Design flaws aside, this is an infinitely creative and entertaining book for epsilons, numerically inclined or no. sam bloom (c) Copyright 2013. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
An exuberant and admiring portrait introduces the odd, marvelously nerdy, way cool Hungarian-born itinerant mathematical genius. Heiligman's joyful, warm account invites young listeners and readers to imagine a much-loved boy completely charmed by numbers. Paul Erdos was sweetly generous throughout his life with the central occupation of his great brain: solving mathematical problems. Unmoored from the usual ties of home and family once grown, he spent most of his career traveling the world to work with colleagues. Erdos was known for his ineptness at practical matters even as he was treasured, housed and fed by those with whom he collaborated in math. The polished, disarming text offers Pham free rein for lively illustration that captures Erdos' childlike spirit. She uses a slightly retro palette and line to infuse Erdos' boyhood surroundings with numbers and diagrams, conveying the idea that young Paul lived and breathed math. She populates his adulthood with his affectionate colleagues, even including a graph with Erdos at the center of several dozen of the great mathematical minds of the 20th century to illustrate the whimsical "Erdos number" concept. An extensive author's note includes a bit more biographical information about Erdos and points to George Csicsery's 1993 film N is a Number as well as to Heiligman's website for links for further exploration. Pham's illustrator's note invites young readers to go page by page to learn about the kinds of numbers that captivated Erdos and to meet him among his cherished mathematicians. Social learners and budding math lovers alike will find something awesome about this exceptional man. (Picture book/biography. 3-9)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
