Genius at Play by
Siobhan Roberts is a biography revolving around the life and works of John
Conway, most notoriously (much to his distaste) the creator of The Game of Life
(the computer game, not the board game!). The structure of the book keeps your
attention throughout as it switches between the author narrating pieces of
Conway’s life according to different acquaintances’ recounting, interviewing
Conway about different memories (of the few he seems to have), and reviewing
pieces of Conway’s work. Jumping from works ranging from knot theory to a proof
of the free will of humanity, Siobhan highlights how Conway’s heavy focus on
games and the mathematics behind them seemed to fuel his work. In what seems to
be a strange turn for most of the famous mathematicians, much of Conway’s work
and understanding of mathematics seems to stem from him having a physical grasp
of what he is working with (as demonstrated by his parallax contraption to view
the world in the 4th dimension… and many other experimentations
outlined in the book). Although it requires a finer application of focus in
order to make sense of some of the mathematics outlined, this book is an
excellent reminder that you don’t need to follow the stereotypes of
mathematicians in order to be a genius.
Good review.
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