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The Impossible Man
Roger Penrose and the Cost of Genius
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$25.99 CADFormat
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- Hardcover $32.00 $42.00 CAD
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When he was six years old, Roger Penrose discovered a sundial in a clearing near his house. Through that machine made of light, shadow, and time, Roger glimpsed a “world behind the world” of transcendently beautiful geometry. It spurred him on a journey to become one of the world’s most influential mathematicians, philosophers, and physicists.
Penrose would prove the limitations of general relativity, set a new agenda for theoretical physics, and astound colleagues and admirers with the elegance and beauty of his discoveries. However, as Patchen Barrs documents in The Impossible Man, success came at a price: He was attuned to the secrets of the universe, but struggled to connect with loved ones, especially the women who care for or worked with him.
Both erudite and poetic, The Impossible Man draws on years of research and interviews, as well as previously unopened archives to present a moving portrait of Penrose the Nobel Prize-winning scientist and Roger the human being. It reveals not just the extraordinary life of Roger Penrose, but asks who gets to be a genius, and who makes the sacrifices that allow one man to be one.
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“One day in 1965, Roger Penrose is crossing a London street and suddenly his imagination is working in four dimensions. The result is an insight that transforms Einstein’s relativity theorem. Patchen Barss writes lyrically about this scientific quest, but he also explores the frail human side of Penrose’s journey. The result is a page-turner reminiscent of James Gleick’s Genius, the bestselling biography of Richard Feynman. The Impossible Man is a stunning achievement.”Kai Bird, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of American Prometheus
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“Barss uses the skills of a fine novelist to tell the story of one of the true giants of twentieth-century mathematics and physics, Roger Penrose, in a biography that reveals the complex and compelling character of the man alongside the importance of his contributions to geometry, relativity, and a wide range of other fields. The biography that Penrose deserves.”David N. Schwartz, author of The Last Man Who Knew Everything
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“Phenomenal: blisteringly candid, elegiac, and utterly compelling, The Impossible Man strips away the myths to expose the frailties and foibles of a mathematical genius who inspired generations. A new landmark of scientific biography.”Ananyo Bhattacharya, author of The Man from the Future
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“A cosmic romance, at once intimate and grand. The Impossible Man is charming and gripping, edifying and soulful, a lot like Roger Penrose himself.”Siobhan Roberts, author of Genius at Play
- On Sale
- Nov 12, 2024
- Page Count
- 352 pages
- Publisher
- Basic Books
- ISBN-13
- 9781541603677
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