The Man Who Loved Only Numbers: The Story of Paul Erdös and the Search for Mathematical Truth

  • Paul Hoffman
Fourth Estate, £7.99, $12.95 (pbk)

“⃛ Hoffman is very good at discussing the sort of problems that intrigued Erdös, which makes The Man Who Loved Only Numbers an excellent introductory book for anyone interested in number theory. As a subject, however, Erdös is difficult. He led a very determinedly undramatic life and Hoffman is forced to fill up many pages with unrelated detail and stories about mathematicians. This upsets the flow of the biography, but frequently adds to the book's interest⃛ The Man Who Loved Only Numbers is a fascinating, affectionate biography, but the title is untrue: Erdös loved many things besides numbers, including children (whom he called epsilons, after the mathematical symbol for a very small quantity) and especially his mother, who accompanied him on many of his early travels.” Alexander Masters, Nature 394, 535– 536 (1998).

A Beautiful Mind

  • Sylvia Nasar
Faber, £17.99

This book will be reviewed in Nature in July.

How the Mind Works

  • Steven Pinker
Norton/Penguin, $17, £9.99 (pbk)

“⃛ Pinker has a gift for exposition, for witty analogies, for apposite quotation from his vast knowledge of culture, high and low. And he knows when to skip the details of difficult technicalities. He uses all these skills in his latest book. It is erudite, light in touch, but long⃛ The most controversial aspect of Pinker's package is his defence of evolutionary psychology⃛ Pinker's evolutionary psychology is useful heuristic for generating hypotheses, but not a refutable theory.” P. N. Johnson-Laird, Nature 389, 557–558 (1997).

Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge

  • E. O. Wilson
Knopf, $26

“⃛ Its first thesis is that the humanitites, sociology, religion, ethics, art appreciation and almost everything else outside the current remit of science that has not found its analytical roots in evolutionary biology will soon do so. Its second thesis is that, once we understand how we came to be, we shall be constrained in determining where to go. Wilson makes a formidable argument for consilience — unifying on the basis of a common theoretical framework — of those near-disciplines that have no rational structure⃛ Wilson is a kind man, but he has no problems producing withering denouncements where they are called for. His description of our ecological plight, and his heartfelt plea for understanding and urgent action, are written with such authority, clarity and passion that I have read nothing to touch them.” Paul H. Harvey, Nature 392, 451–452 (1998) .

One Renegade Cell: The Quest for the Origins of Cancer

  • Robert Weinberg
Weidenfeld & Nicolson, £12.99

Robert Weinberg's brisk trot through the scientific efforts to understand cancer joins the recent spate of books in which experts write a history of their own field. It is amazing science, but the tired metaphors and unwieldy gene names will not make it easy reading for lay-readers even if it is all terribly relevant to them — as Weinberg points out, about 40 per cent of the population of the United States will develop cancer at some stage in their lives. Nor does the ultimately unsettling subject matter recommend the book as one to read in bed. — Harriet Coles

Mapping the Mind

  • Rita Carter
Weidenfeld & Nicolson, £25

See page 652 for a review.