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The Blurb On The Back:
Alexander Masters, the bestselling author of Stuart: A Life Backwards, discovered his first subject on the streets; the second, he’s found under his floorboards.
Dr Simon Philips Norton lives under Alexander’s flat in Cambridge. One of the greatest mathematical prodigies of the 20th century, today he stomps about his rooms in semi-darkness eating tinned kippers stirred into packets of Bombay mix, fulminating against automobiles and attacking a theoretical concundrum so vast and intricate that he calls it ‘The Monster’. He says it is the Voice of God. The Monster looks like a Sudoku table. A Sudoku table has nine columns of numbers. The Monster has 808017424794512875886459904961710757005754368000000000.
Simon’s toilet has fallen through the floor. Supermarket bags swollen with bus timetables pile like stalagmites on his tables and chairs. Ruts in the floor debris mark his route from bed to kitchen, kitchen to toilet, toilet back to bed. He is unemployed and unemployable.
In The Genius In My Basement, Alexander Masters offers a tender, humorous, intimate portrait of a supposedly ‘collapsed’ genius and a happy man.
( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )
The Verdict:
Although this book doesn’t offer any real explanations for how Simon Norton came to be the person he is or what happened to his early maths genius, it’s nevertheless an entertaining book that shows who Simon is and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
THE GENIUS IN MY BASEMENT was released in the UK on 1st September. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the ARC of this book.
Dr Simon Philips Norton lives under Alexander’s flat in Cambridge. One of the greatest mathematical prodigies of the 20th century, today he stomps about his rooms in semi-darkness eating tinned kippers stirred into packets of Bombay mix, fulminating against automobiles and attacking a theoretical concundrum so vast and intricate that he calls it ‘The Monster’. He says it is the Voice of God. The Monster looks like a Sudoku table. A Sudoku table has nine columns of numbers. The Monster has 808017424794512875886459904961710757005754368000000000.
Simon’s toilet has fallen through the floor. Supermarket bags swollen with bus timetables pile like stalagmites on his tables and chairs. Ruts in the floor debris mark his route from bed to kitchen, kitchen to toilet, toilet back to bed. He is unemployed and unemployable.
In The Genius In My Basement, Alexander Masters offers a tender, humorous, intimate portrait of a supposedly ‘collapsed’ genius and a happy man.
( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )
The Verdict:
Although this book doesn’t offer any real explanations for how Simon Norton came to be the person he is or what happened to his early maths genius, it’s nevertheless an entertaining book that shows who Simon is and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
THE GENIUS IN MY BASEMENT was released in the UK on 1st September. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the ARC of this book.
