Sylvia Nasar's A beautiful mind (Simon and Schuster, 1998) explores some of these questions, and at its best provides considerable enlightenment. Its greatest success is a discussion of Nash's "illness": the treatments he had to endure, the support of his friends, his ambivalence to his return to "rationality". Nasar went to considerable lengths to find out what happened to Nash during this period; her discussion is sensitive and thought-provoking. Her style is reportorial rather than analytical, but she raises many significant issues. Nasar also does a good job of exposing both the Econometric Society's handling of Nash's nomination to be a Fellow, and the machinations behind the award of his Nobel prize. If I interpret footnote 101 in Chapter 48 correctly, the credit for unmasking the Nobel committee is due to a reporter for a Swedish newspaper, but Nasar conducted many additional interviews and learned a lot more about what happened.
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