The Mathematician's Brain poses a provocative question about the world's most brilliant yet eccentric mathematical minds: were they brilliant because of their eccentricities or in spite of them? In this thought-provoking and entertaining book, David Ruelle, the well-known mathematical physicist who helped create chaos theory, gives us a rare insider's account of the celebrated mathematicians he has known-their quirks, oddities, personal tragedies, bad behavior, descents into madness, tragic ends, and the sublime, inexpressible beauty of their most breathtaking mathematical discoveries. Consider the case of British mathematician Alan Turing. Credited with cracking the German Enigma code during World War II and conceiving of the modern computer, he was convicted of "gross indecency" for a homosexual affair and died in 1954 after eating a cyanide-laced apple--his death was ruled a suicide, though rumors of assassination still linger. Ruelle holds nothing back in his revealing and deeply personal reflections on Turing and other fellow mathematicians, including Alexander Grothendieck, Ren Thom, Bernhard Riemann, and Felix Klein. But this book is more than a mathematical tell-all. Each chapter examines an important mathematical idea and the visionary minds behind it. Ruelle meaningfully explores the philosophical issues raised by each, offering insights into the truly unique and creative ways mathematicians think and showing how the mathematical setting is most favorable for asking philosophical questions about meaning, beauty, and the nature of reality. The Mathematician's Brain takes you inside the world--and heads--of mathematicians. It's a journey you won't soon forget.

大卫·吕埃勒（David Ruelle），1935年生干比利时，法国科学院理论物理院士，1964年被法国高等科学研究所（IHES）聘为第一位外籍物理教授，自2000年起为IHES名誉教授及美国罗格斯大学的杰出访问教授。他是统计物理的奠基人之一，为混沌动力学的开创者。与塔肯斯（Flaris Takens）提出奇异吸引子的概念并建立了湍流的新理论，为化学反应中混沌现象研究的先驱。1986年他因对统计物理的杰出贡献获玻尔兹曼奖，2006年因对量子场论、统计力学、动力系统的杰出贡献获庞加莱奖。除本书外，他还著有脍炙人口的科普书《机遇与混沌》。