A New York Times Editors' Pick and Paris Review Staff Pick
"A wonderful book." βPatti Smith
"I was riveted. Olsson is evocative on curiosity as an appetite of the mind, on the pleasure of glutting oneself on knowledge." βParul Sehgal, The New York Times
An eloquent blend of memoir and biography exploring the Weil siblings, math, and creative inspiration
Karen Olsson's stirring and unusual third book, The Weil Conjectures, tells the story of the brilliant Weil siblingsβSimone, a philosopher, mystic, and social activist, and AndrΓ©, an influential mathematicianβwhile also recalling the years Olsson spent studying math. As she delves into the lives of these two singular French thinkers, she grapples with their intellectual obsessions and rekindles one of her own. For Olsson, as a math major in college and a writer now, it's the odd detours that lead to discovery, to moments of insight. Thus The Weil Conjecturesβan elegant blend of biography and memoir and a meditation on the creative life.
Personal, revealing, and approachable, The Weil Conjectures eloquently explores math as it relates to intellectual history, and shows how sometimes the most inexplicable pursuits turn out to be the most rewarding.