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Loading... Mandelbrot the Magnificent (2017)by Liz Ziemska
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. An interesting, entertaining, quick novella. I've always enjoyed Jewish literature and things involving the mysticism behind Judaism or the Kabbalah. Things about the Sephiroth / sefrot, etc. And this does a fairly good job of representing all of that, and the fantastical element(s) are hidden and only truly shown at the end. I do think its a case of no real danger though, despite having the Gestapo threat looming over the family.... they never seem to be in any danger, and even the coda at the end where everyone survived (even those who wandered outside his protective fractal) and the one true bad-guy of the book (Emile) just so happens to get his comeuppance, but nobody else. Like I said though, fun entertaining read, sadly a bit devoid of deeper meaning or truly great story behind it, but a fun quick read. no reviews | add a review
Awards
"Liz Ziemska has fashioned a beautiful story about one famous survivor and the magic and mathematics he's brought to the world." --Karen Joy FowlerMandelbrot the Magnificent is a stunning, magical pseudo-biography of Benoit Mandelbrot as he flees into deep mathematics to escape the rise of HitlerBorn in the Warsaw ghetto and growing up in France during the rise of Hitler, Benoit Mandelbrot found escape from the cruelties of the world around him through mathematics. Logic sometimes makes monsters, and Mandelbrot began hunting monsters at an early age. Drawn into the infinite promulgations of formulae, he sinks into secret dimensions and unknown wonders.His gifts do not make his life easier, however. As the Nazis give up the pretense of puppet government in Vichy France, the jealousy of Mandelbrot's classmates leads to denunciation and disaster. The young mathematician must save his family with the secret spaces he's discovered, or his genius will destroy them. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.6Literature English (North America) American fiction 21st CenturyLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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The idea of math as magic is a very interesting concept, but you don't need to know complex math to appreciate the story. I was able to grasp the crucial points without just a rusty, high school-level understanding of fractals.
I feel like this story could have been either shorter or longer, but at the current length it felt a bit odd. I don't feel like there's enough of an explanation for why Mandelbrot doesn't continue to explore D. At the same time, there's remarkable character development in such a small space.
Anyway, I mostly grabbed this particular one because it was the shortest book on my shelf and I just needed something to hold me over until I got The Iliad from the library. I'd been holding off because I was afraid it was set in a concentration camp (see my review of Briar Rose...), but thankfully, it wasn't.
Quote Roundup
p. 19) (Friends who had been reluctant to leave their park-view apartments, their Meissen china, their illusory dreams of status, did not survive.) ( )