The Man Who Knew Infinity

What Hacker News says

1. steppiNov 2025
   Just a couple of corrections.

   Let's take the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus as an example[0]:

     f'(x) = lim_{h->0} {f(x + h) - f(x)} / {h}

   This isn't the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus, it's the usual definition of the derivative of a function of a single real variable. The Fundamental Theorem of Calculus establishes the inverse relationship between differentiation and integration [0].

   Unless you're Ramanujan, every mathematician has spent hours banging their head against a literal or metaphorical wall (or both!)

   Ramanujan was no stranger to banging his head against the wall. My impression from Kanigel's The Man Who Knew Infinity is that his work ethic and mathematical fortitude were as astonishing as his creativity. For much of his career, he couldn't afford paper in quantity and did his hard work on stone slate, only recording the results. This could make it seem like his results were a product of pure inspiration because he left no trace of the furious activity and struggle that was involved.

   From The Man Who Knew Infinity:

   When he thought hard, his face scrunched up, his eyes narrowed into a squint. When he figured something out, he sometimes seemed to talk to himself, smile, shake his head with pleasure. When he made a mistake, too impatient to lay down his slate pencil, he twisted his forearm toward his body in a single fluid motion and used his elbow, now aimed at the slate, as an eraser. Ramanujan's was no cool, steady Intelligence, solemnly applied to the problem at hand; he was all energy, animation, force.

   [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fundamental_theorem_of_calculu...

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2. meifunJan 2025
   "The Man Who Knew Infinity: A Life of the Genius Ramanujan" By: Robert Kanigel

   A biography of one of the most innovative mathematicians of all time traces the rise of Srinivasa Ramanujan from his days as a clerk to his collaboration with one of England's greatest mathematicians

   There is also a movie with this same name. It was good, IMHO.

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3. stonlybJan 2025
   list of (most of) the books mentioned in this thread so far. I tried reading every comment but used chatGPT instead.

   1. The Big Rich - Texas oil boom.

   2. Barbarians at the Gate - Private equity origins.

   3. Masters of Doom - John Carmack and Id Software.

   4. Einstein by Walter Isaacson - Einstein's discoveries.

   5. Houdini!!! - The escape artist and magician.

   6. The Double Helix - DNA discovery.

   7. Stress Test by Tim Geithner - Financial crisis.

   8. Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl - Concentration camp survival.

   9. The Chariots of Apollo - NASA's space program.

   10. Across the Airless Wilds by Earl Swift - Development of the moon buggy.

   11. Apollo: The Race to the Moon by Charles Murray and Catherine Bly Cox - Apollo missions.

   12. The Secret Life of Groceries by Benjamin Lorr - Food supply chains.

   13. The Prize by Daniel Yergin - Oil industry evolution.

   14. Shadow Divers by Robert Kurson - Ambitious wreck divers.

   15. The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes - Manhattan Project.

   16. American Prometheus by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin - Robert Oppenheimer.

   17. Conquistador by Buddy Levy - Hernán Cortés and the Aztecs.

   18. Cadillac Desert by Marc Reisner - Water infrastructure in the American West.

   19. The Wright Brothers by David McCullough - The invention of flight.

   20. Walt Disney by Neal Gabler - Vision and innovation in entertainment.

   21. Tuxedo Park by Jennet Conant - Invention of radar.

   22. Insisting on the Impossible - Edwin Land and instant photography.

   23. The Logic of Failure - Understanding and avoiding failure.

   24. The Big Short by Michael Lewis - 2008 financial crisis.

   25. The Box by Marc Levinson - Shipping container revolution.

   26. Latitude by Nicholas Crane - Cartography innovations.

   27. When the Heavens Went on Sale by Ashlee Vance - Space startups.

   28. The Founders by Jimmy Soni - PayPal's early days.

   29. The Perfectionists by Simon Winchester - Precision engineering.

   30. The Little Engine That Could - Children's classic.

   31. Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell - Success mechanics.

   32. Shoe Dog by Phil Knight - Founding of Nike.

   33. Black Hole Blues by Janna Levin - Building LIGO.

   34. Freedom’s Forge - WWII industry mobilization.

   35. Empires of Light by Jill Jonnes - Electrification by Edison, Tesla, Westinghouse.

   36. The Path Between the Seas by David McCullough - Panama Canal construction.

   37. Annapurna by Maurice Herzog - Climbing a Himalayan peak.

   38. Soul of a New Machine by Tracy Kidder - Data General engineers.

   39. Showstopper by G. Pascal Zachary - Development of Windows NT.

   40. Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand - WWII survival.

   41. The Measure of All Things by Ken Alder - Defining the meter.

   42. The Cuckoo’s Egg by Clifford Stoll - Tracking a hacker.

   43. The Man Who Knew Infinity by Robert Kanigel - Srinivasa Ramanujan.

   44. The Power Broker by Robert Caro - Robert Moses and New York infrastructure.

   45. How Big Things Get Done - Large-scale project execution.

   46. Dealers of Lightning by Michael A. Hiltzik - Xerox PARC.

   47. Built by Roma Agrawal - Civil engineering insights.

   48. The Will to Keep Winning by Daigo Umehara - Competitive gaming.

   49. Absolute Zero and the Conquest of Cold - Low-temperature physics.

   50. Carrying the Fire by Michael Collins - Apollo 11.

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4. rramadassOct 2024
   For people interested in learning more about Ramanujan and his Works;

   1) Mathematics Wizard Srinivasa Ramanujan : Some glimpses into his Life and Work by two Indian Mathematicians Narendra Kumar Govil and Bhu Dev Sharma is a good biography with an introduction to his Mathematics and links to further resources. Good complement to Robert Kanigel's book The Man Who Knew Infinity.

   2) In order to understand the fascination that Mathematicians have for Ramanujan see this and other lectures by Prof. Ken Ono who credits Ramanujan as his inspiration in becoming a Mathematician; Why Does Ramanujan, "The Man Who Knew Infinity," Matter? - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ynhiZJUMzA

   3) Mathologer on Youtube has good walkthroughs of some of Ramanujan's most famous identities (eg. 1+2+3+... = -1/12) - https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=mathologer+rama...

   4) All of Ramanujan's published papers and unpublished notebooks can be found online at - http://ramanujan.sirinudi.org/

   PS: In the submitted article, George Andrews is wearing a Ramanujan tie :-)

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5. wanderingmindFeb 2023
   Ramanujan is an extreme outlier but an aspiration to lot of Indians. Growing up in the southern tip of India in British Raj to a poor family, he had to literally struggle through all his life, going hungry a lot. It was because he was only good at Math and nothing else, which was unacceptable to be employed by the British. "The Man who knew Infinity" by "Robert Kanigel" is a great book that captures the essence of his work and life beautifully.
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6. mindcrimeSep 2022
   That would be a long list, given that I read a lot of books and would generally say that most of the books I've read were worth investing time in to some extent. But for what it's worth, here's a subset, cribbed from my previous HN comments:

   Something Deeply Hidden - Sean Carroll

   The Universe Speaks in Numbers: How Modern Math Reveals Nature's Deepest Secrets - Graham Farmelo

   The Man Who Loved Only Numbers: The Story of Paul Erdos and the Search for Mathematical Truth - Paul Hoffman

   The Man Who Knew Infinity: A Life of the Genius Ramanujan - Robert Kanigel

   Lost in Math - Sabine Hossenfelder

   The First Three Minutes - Steven Weinberg

   Hyperspace - Michio Kaku

   Not Even Wrong - Peter Woit

   The Trouble With Physics - Lee Smolin

   About Time - Paul Davies

   Time Reborn - Lee Smolin

   The Elegant Universe - Brian Greene

   The Hidden Reality - Brian Greene

   The Fabric of the Cosmos - Brian Greene

   Quantum Space: Loop Quantum Gravity and the Search for the Structure of Space, Time, and the Universe - Jim Baggott

   The Universe Speaks in Numbers: How Modern Math Reveals Nature's Deepest Secrets - Graham Farmelo

   Three Roads To Quantum Gravity - Lee Smolin

   Programming the Universe: A Quantum Computer Scientist Takes on the Cosmos - Seth Lloyd

   Higgs - The invention and discovery of the 'God Particle' - Jim Baggott

   Analogy Making As Perception - Melanie Mitchell

   Society of Mind - Marvin Minsky

   Engineering General Intelligence, Part 1 - Ben Goertzel

   Engineering General Intelligence, Part 2 - Ben Goertzel

   The AGI Revolution - Ben Goertzel

   Hackers & Painters by our very own Paul "pg" Graham

   Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution - Steven Levy

   The Soul of a New Machine - Tracy Kidder

   Cyberpunk: Outlaws and Hackers on the Computer Frontier - Katie Hafner & John Markoff

   Artificial Life: A Report from the Frontier Where Computers Meet Biology - Steven Levy

   Ghost In The Wires - Kevin Mitnick

   The Art of Deception - Kevin Mitnick

   The Art of Intrusion - Kevin Mitnick

   Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas Hofstadter

   The Fountainhead - Ayn Rand

   It's Not About The Bike - Lance Armstrong

   Ultramarathon Man - Dean Karnazes

   Charles Proteus Steinmetz: The Electrical Wizard of Schenectady - Robert Bly

   Report From Engine Co 82 - Dennis Smith

   Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind - Al Ries, Jack Trout and Philip Kotler

   The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing: Violate Them at Your Own Risk! - Al Ries and Jack Trout

   Re-Positioning: Marketing in an Era of Competition, Change and Crisis by Jack Trout and Steve Rivkin

   The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding - Al Ries and Laura Ries

   Differentiate or Die: Survival in Our Era of Killer Competition - Jack Trout and Steve Rivkin

   Marketing High Technology - William H. Davidow

   Marketing Warfare - Al Ries

   The Discipline of Market Leaders - Michael Treacy and Fred Wiersema

   Crossing The Chasm - Geoffrey Moore

   How to Measure Anything - Douglas Hubbard

   Fooled by Randomness - Nassim Nicholas Taleb

   The Black Swan - Nassim Nicholas Taleb

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