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Simon: the genius in my basement

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Description

Alexander Masters tripped over his first book subject on a Cambridge sidewalk, and the result was the multi-award-winning bestseller Stuart: A Life Backwards. His second, he’s found under his floorboards.
 
One of the greatest mathematical prodigies of the twentieth century, Simon Norton stomps around Alexander’s basement in semidarkness, dodging between stalagmites of bus timetables and engorged plastic bags, eating tinned kippers stirred into packets of Bombay mix. Simon is exploring a theoretical puzzle so complex and critical to our understanding of the universe that it is known as the Monster. It looks like a sudoku table—except a sudoku table has nine columns of numbers.
 
The Monster has 808017424794512875886459904961710757005754368000000000 columns.
 
But that’s not the whole story. What’s inside the decaying sports bag he never lets out of his clutches? Why does he hurtle out of the house in the middle of the night? And—good God!—what is that noxious smell that creeps up the stairwell?
 
Grumpy, poignant, comical—more intimate than either the author or his quarry intended—Simon: The Genius in My Basement is the story of a friendship and a pursuit.  Part biography, part memoir, and part popular science, it is a study of the frailty of brilliance, the measures of happiness, and Britain’s most uncooperative egghead eccentric.

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ISBN:
9780385341080
9780345532213
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Grouping Information

Grouped Work ID5636b617-3bd2-b52d-e150-ea8c6fdb8e8e
Grouping Titlesimon the genius in my basement
Grouping Authoralexander masters
Grouping Categorybook
Grouping LanguageEnglish (eng)
Last Grouping Update2024-03-28 02:11:39AM
Last Indexed2024-03-28 02:24:37AM

Solr Fields

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0
accelerated_reader_reading_level
0
author
Masters, Alexander
author_display
Masters, Alexander
available_at_catalog
Central
Southgate
detailed_location_catalog
Central
Southgate
display_description

Alexander Masters tripped over his first book subject on a Cambridge sidewalk, and the result was the multi-award-winning bestseller Stuart: A Life Backwards. His second, he’s found under his floorboards.
 
One of the greatest mathematical prodigies of the twentieth century, Simon Norton stomps around Alexander’s basement in semidarkness, dodging between stalagmites of bus timetables and engorged plastic bags, eating tinned kippers stirred into packets of Bombay mix. Simon is exploring a theoretical puzzle so complex and critical to our understanding of the universe that it is known as the Monster. It looks like a sudoku table—except a sudoku table has nine columns of numbers.
 
The Monster has 808017424794512875886459904961710757005754368000000000 columns.
 
But that’s not the whole story. What’s inside the decaying sports bag he never lets out of his clutches? Why does he hurtle out of the house in the middle of the night? And—good God!—what is that noxious smell that creeps up the stairwell?
 
Grumpy, poignant, comical—more intimate than either the author or his quarry intended—Simon: The Genius in My Basement is the story of a friendship and a pursuit.  Part biography, part memoir, and part popular science, it is a study of the frailty of brilliance, the measures of happiness, and Britain’s most uncooperative egghead eccentric.

format_catalog
Book
eBook
format_category_catalog
Books
eBook
id
5636b617-3bd2-b52d-e150-ea8c6fdb8e8e
isbn
9780345532213
9780385341080
itype_catalog
Adult Book Non-Fiction
last_indexed
2024-03-28T09:24:37.294Z
lexile_score
-1
literary_form
Non Fiction
literary_form_full
Non Fiction
local_callnumber_catalog
BIOGRAPHY Norton, S. 2012
owning_library_catalog
Sacramento Public Library
owning_location_catalog
Central
Southgate
primary_isbn
9780385341080
publishDate
2012
publisher
Delacorte Press
Random House Publishing Group
recordtype
grouped_work
subject_facet
Finite simple groups
Gifted persons
Mathematicians -- England -- Biography
Norton, Simon, -- 1952-2019
title_display
Simon : the genius in my basement
title_full
Simon : the genius in my basement / Alexander Masters
Simon The Genius in My Basement
title_short
Simon
title_sub
the genius in my basement
topic_facet
Biography & Autobiography
Finite simple groups
Gifted persons
Mathematicians
Nonfiction
Norton, Simon
Sociology

Solr Details Tables

item_details

Bib IdItem IdShelf LocCall NumFormatFormat CategoryNum CopiesIs Order ItemIs eContenteContent SourceeContent URLDetailed StatusLast CheckinLocation
overdrive:2ad8ac5f-4087-47c2-8dd0-c8ddb9ee5314-2Online OverDrive CollectionOnline OverDriveeBookeBook1falsetrueOverDriveAvailable Online
ils:.b20980620.i65427750SouthgateBIOGRAPHY Norton, S. 20121falsefalseOn Shelfsouag
ils:.b20980620.i65427749CentralBIOGRAPHY Norton, S. 20121falsefalseOn Shelfcenag

record_details

Bib IdFormatFormat CategoryEditionLanguagePublisherPublication DatePhysical DescriptionAbridged
overdrive:2ad8ac5f-4087-47c2-8dd0-c8ddb9ee5314eBookeBookEnglishRandom House Publishing Group2012
ils:.b20980620BookBooks1st edEnglishDelacorte Press2012, c2011360 p. : ill. ; 22 cm.

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