The Boy who loved Math - A Mathemagician from Budapest

This book is the first and only child-friendly biography we have read about a mathematician.

The story goes like this....

Paul Erdos lived in Budapest, Hungary, with his mama. His mother was a maths teacher, which was one of the reasons he loved maths. When she went to work, she used to leave Paul with Fraulein, the caretaker.

Fraulien was a rule maker who established rules for everything, including when to eat, read, sleep, and other things. Paul had a dislike for rules.

So Paul started counting how many days were left for summer vacation so that he could be with his mom all day and escape from Fraulein. That is how it all started. He loved counting, he loved numbers, and he loved to discover using numbers. At the age of four, he started asking people their date of birth and time. With that, he could calculate and say how many seconds they were alive in the world from the moment they were born.

He was fond of prime numbers. When he was 20, he was a well-known mathematician who was known as a Magician from Budapest. Despite his age, he was incapable of buttering his bread, tying his shoes, etc. and following rules, so he created his own way of life.

The rest of the story covers how he travelled around the world, what discoveries he made with fellow mathematicians, what Erdos number is, and why it is still popular among mathematicians today.

The book is not about math; it is about a boy and his passion, it is about dedication to one's passion. We learned a lot of new words from the book, for example, Epsilon, Paul's term for the mathematicians' kids.

Every page in the book is illustrated with a prime number. On the last page, there is a note from the illustrator about various types of prime numbers he used in illustrations on every single page. Doesn't heard of those types and not even about Paul unless we read this book. 

This book will be a definite visual treat for all. The beautiful and informative illustrations make this a great gift for all those who love numbers.