A Beautiful Mind Themes

A Beautiful Mind is the biography of acclaimed mathematician John Nash, who suffers from fits of delusion that severely hamper his career as a mathematician. Nash experiences a meteoric rise to fame and develops what biographer Sylvia Nasar calls “one of the most influential ideas of the twentieth century,” a crucial development in mathematical theory. Yet at the age of 30, he begins to experience severe schizophrenic episodes that derail his career. Nash is…

Throughout Nasar’s biography, John Nash is portrayed as a wholly complicated figure. Though exceedingly intelligent in the world of academia, he lacks a sense of social awareness and is often cruel, commandeering, and downright uncaring to the people around him: his friends, family, and peers. In A Beautiful Mind, Nasar does not attempt to excuse or justify Nash’s behavior. Instead, she suggests that while Nash was able to get ahead as a mathematician…