A Beautiful Mind by Sylvia Nasar (2001, Paperback, Reissue)

The book, like the subject matter, is beautiful. The author, however, (or the editor), commits some writing flaws. Book Rating: Excellent. Author (Editor) Rating: Below Average.

I state this because although Sylvia Nasar obviously has superb research skills and knows how to plot the written story (don't get me started on the movie), I think she could have had a much better final product if she had worked with a technical writer or a medical writer.

Her biography studies and relates the life of Nobel Prize-winning mathematician John Nash. His eccentric and at times tragic personality helped him (caused him?)to develop revolutionary mathematical processes.

John Nash plummets into a 30-year bout of paranoid schizophrenia -- and somewhat improbably "recovers" in 1990.

"Recovery" from paranoid schizophrenia is akin to "recovery" from a plane crash in which all passengers die -- except for one major difference. In a fatal plane crash, the body dies, but often the deceased spirit remains alive via memories. With paranoid schizophrenia, the body is still there, but the spirit is dead. One can see it in the eyes, and it's a look not unlike a spiritually broken combat soldier's "Thousand-Yard Stare."

Let me be clear though -- "survivors" of paranoid schizophrenia are, to me, heroes. Be near one such hero with this disease or closely know one, and you know precisely what I mean. Otherwise my statement makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.

As there are memorials and plaques and honors bestowed upon heroic soldiers, firefighters, and police officers, there should also stand memorials for those who fall victim to paranoid schizophrenia.

This is where Sylvia Nasar falls short in her authorship of the book -- and where a medical or technical writer could have provided assistance.

Yes, Nasar does provide insights into this illness and its devastating effects. She accomplishes this through Nash's letters, interviews with his colleagues, and her own compilation of research in the field. And for her work, she was appropriately awarded A New York Times Notable Book for 1998. But "notable" is a bit of a step down from what she could have had.