The Man Who Knew Infinity

Author: Robert Kanigel
Genre: biography, popular science, mathematics

An intimate chronicle of the life and the man that was Ramanujan; a mathematician of the highest order and whose work inspires mathematicians to this day. In addition to its main character the book also substantially talks about one other character who played a very important role in Ramanujan’s mathematical growth; and that is G.H. Hardy.

The author has beautifully depicted the times, the culture and the thinking of the people back then in South India,  thus giving a very real picture of the kind of atmosphere that Ramanujan was brought up in and lived in before he was ‘discovered’ by Hardy. It gives the reader an increased appreciation of the hardships that Ramanujan faced and makes his move to Cambridge and recognition by the world’s mathematical community even more astonishing. Even in Cambridge, though Ramanujan’s mathematics was nourished, he still faced cultural problems. Reading about his struggles, his illustrious but brief life, one realizes many profound truths, not only about him but about the Indian culture as well. That he is an inspiration to many- Indians and others, is no doubt, but he is also a lesson. Our strict educational system may have lost many other Ramanujans as I’m sure they do to this day; for in the end, on paper, he was just an Indian clerk with no degree.

The book managed to capture me from the start. The language is fluid and very beautiful. Kanigel has researched well, both about Ramanujan and Hardy and has tried to give as honest a portrayal of their personalities as possible. Although I must warn, do not expect much mathematics. In fact it’s quite lacking on this end, the few mathematical ideas that are discussed are not clear enough. Overall, I thought that the book gives an impressive account of these two great mathematicians and I would highly recommend it to anyone even remotely curious about Ramanujan.