In this powerful and dramatic biography, Sylvia Nasar vividly re-creates the life of a mathematical genius whose career was cut short by schizophrenia and who, after three decades of devastating mental illness, miraculously recovered and was honored with a Nobel Prize. A Beautiful Mind traces the meteoric rise of John Forbes Nash, Jr., a prodigy and legend by the age of thirty, who, at the height of his fame, suffered a catastrophic mental breakdown and began a harrowing descent into insanity. He was all but forgotten by the outside world -- until, remarkably, he emerged from his madness to win world acclaim. A feat of biographical writing, and now a blockbuster film starring Academy Award-winner Russell Crowe, A Beautiful Mind is also a fascinating look at the extraordinary and fragile nature of genuis

(From: back cover, original publication, Simon & Schuster, 1998)