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Description
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'Beguiling ... I was riveted. Olsson is evocative on curiosity as an appetite of the mind, on the pleasure of glutting oneself on knowledge' - New York Times
'A wonderful book ... Reading it is akin to kicking a can along the road of higher learning' - Patti Smith
'A remarkable tour de force' - Standpoint
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Simone Weil: philosopher, political activist, mystic – and sister to André, one of the most influential mathematicians of the twentieth century. These two extraordinary siblings formed an obsession for Karen Olsson, who studied mathematics at Harvard, only to turn to writing as a vocation.
When Olsson got hold of the 1940 letters between the siblings, she found they shared a curiosity about the inception of creative thought – that flash of insight – that Olsson experienced as both a mathematics student, and later, a novelist.
Following this thread of connections, The Weil Conjectures explores the lives of Simone and André, the lore and allure of mathematics, and its significance in Olsson's own life.
Product details
Published | 11 Jul 2019 |
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Format | Ebook (Epub & Mobi) |
Edition | 1st |
Extent | 224 |
ISBN | 9781526607553 |
Imprint | Bloomsbury Publishing |
Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing |
About the contributors
Reviews
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Beguiling ... The book unfurls effortlessly, loose and legato. There are no real revelations - the subjects are well known and long dead. There are no stakes; there is no suspense. I was riveted. Olsson is evocative on curiosity as an appetite of the mind, on the pleasure of glutting oneself on knowledge
Parul Sehgal, New York Times
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A wonderful book ... Reading it is akin to kicking a can along the road of higher learning
Patti Smith
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A remarkable tour de force
Standpoint
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A nuanced exploration of abstraction versus a lived life
Lit Hub
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The Weil Conjectures is an alluring meditation on geometry, sacrifice and adolescent self-discovery, delivered in passionate, impressionistic bursts
Jordan Ellenberg, Sunday Times bestselling author of How Not to Be Wrong: The Hidden Maths of Everyday Life
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I loved The Weil Conjectures for Karen Olsson's humanising, playful approach to these very serious people, but also for her rigour, her thoughtfulness about writing and creativity, and her refreshing blend of two disciplines I tend to think of, erroneously, as irrevocably at odds: math and literature. The Weil Conjectures has that undefinable x common to all the best books. I can't wait to read it again
Lauren Elkin, author of Flaneuse