The Elegant Solution

De: Jim Tilley

Narrado por: Bronson Pinchot

“A mathematician,” G. H. Hardy wrote, “like a painter or a poet, is a maker of patterns." Throughout his childhood, Jim Tilley was encouraged to discover such patterns through the mathematical puzzles his father posed for him to solve. Never satisfied with ordinary solutions, his father insisted on mathematical elegance. Always more comfortable in the realm of the mind, he could never bring himself to give Tilley a hug; they'd merely shake hands on parting. Both father and son set standards for intellectual achievement so high it was difficult to ever be satisfied. Now, as his father loses his grip on his mind in old age, Tilley, concerned that he is glimpsing his own future, looks back on the decisions he has made in his life and tries to locate the points at which ambition and drive cross the line into unhealthy obsession.

Ploughshares, the literary magazine of Emerson College.

©2013 Emerson College (P)2014 Audible, Inc.

Great memoir

A wonderful memoir about how a father teaches his son to solve problems with critical thinking, and how the son then grows from this to learn to solve problems in his own way. His stubbornness around the issue of the trigonometry test was one of my favorite parts. 

Math and logic

I enjoyed this. It is biographical about someone who grew up with math. Some of the puzzles were intriguing and fun.

Unexpected Gem

This story, about a young man and his Dad, with some math thrown in for good measure, was really well written. Bronson Pinchot almost makes you believe he is the polymath author. Put together, this was truly an unexpected gem of a listen.