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turtleofbabel's review against another edition
5.0
Could've used a little more explanation of some of the football terms, but otherwise a great read. The mathematician personality sounded distinctly familiar...
wopdewop's review against another edition
2.0
The football doesn't interest me and the math was elementary. Coming in without prejudice against football players (which a lot of people in the comments seem to have), I think the authors are just not that good at writing. Urschel is surely talented, math or otherwise, and we should be grateful to have him in the field of TCS, but the book just isn't interesting. His papers on spectral bisection might be more interesting though.
nataschabelle's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
3.0
A nice memoir about a love of both math and football. I got the impression that Urschel is a very unique person and that his level of intelligence is not normal - but still found his story interesting. I learned a lot about football.
mschlat's review against another edition
4.0
Overall, a good solid read. Urschel and Thomas make the smart decision to alternate chapters between Urschel's mathematical career and his football career, and the result is an interesting narrative drive. On the football side, I was fascinated by his time at Penn State (during the fallout of the Sandusky revelations), his regular calculations of his CTE risk, and his unfailing work ethic. (It's also good to get some insight into line play as opposed to the more splashy positions.) On the mathematical side, I was impressed by Urschel's ability to learn field after field and his willingness to go to source documents to build up his foundations. There were a few digressions that felt tacked on; I've read enough popularizations of some of this material (especially Gödel's incompleteness theorems) that it takes a very fresh take for me to take notice, and Urschel didn't provide that. But, that aside, I enjoyed the read quite a bit.
shighley's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed this book, and think it would be a great gift for a couple of my friends. I think Urschel (and his fiance) did a pretty good job of including just enough of the math content to be interesting but not overwhelming (although some of it was still a little over my head!)
I cannot remember hearing about him before, and looked up some of his television appearances and other background; you can even access students' ratings of him as a math instructor.
The insights into college and pro football were very intriguing, and Urschel's love for Penn State is very clear.
Perhaps the division of chapters into math and football are indicative of the way he was able to separate them in his life, but there were a couple of times that I wished the book had been more chronological. Others have mentioned the seemingly rushed insertion of the fiance and daughter at the end; I thought it couldn't be that bad, and perhaps since she was the co-writer, that's how she wanted it, but when I read it, I agreed. I was thinking, "What? Where did she come from? How long has she been in the picture?'
One thing about the audio bothered me, the pronunciation of "Canisius." I have a friend who taught at Canisius College, as in "Ca-neesh-us" The narrator made it sound like "Ca-nace-us" All they had to do was call the high school and get the answering machine for the correct way-- like I did to double check.
I cannot remember hearing about him before, and looked up some of his television appearances and other background; you can even access students' ratings of him as a math instructor.
The insights into college and pro football were very intriguing, and Urschel's love for Penn State is very clear.
Perhaps the division of chapters into math and football are indicative of the way he was able to separate them in his life, but there were a couple of times that I wished the book had been more chronological. Others have mentioned the seemingly rushed insertion of the fiance and daughter at the end; I thought it couldn't be that bad, and perhaps since she was the co-writer, that's how she wanted it, but when I read it, I agreed. I was thinking, "What? Where did she come from? How long has she been in the picture?'
One thing about the audio bothered me, the pronunciation of "Canisius." I have a friend who taught at Canisius College, as in "Ca-neesh-us" The narrator made it sound like "Ca-nace-us" All they had to do was call the high school and get the answering machine for the correct way-- like I did to double check.
micholki's review against another edition
5.0
I read a lot of nonfiction books and the majority are rather repetitive. This book made me realize that NO ONE writes about being passionate about math except for Urschel. Definitely a unique person, inspiring for all of us dorks, and worth reading!
cricketlou's review against another edition
4.0
I stumbled across this book as I was researching people to put on our department’s “Mathematician of the Month” bulletin board. I didn’t want all of the people we highlighted for 10 months to be the standard white guys. I wanted to find women, minorities, and living mathematicians that my students population could perhaps better relate to. I stumbled across John Urschel, a former NFL player who is a Ph.D. at MIT. Presently only 31-years-old and an African-American man and a former NFL player THIS is a mathematician I have a shot at getting my students invested in!!
My colleague and I are considering doing a book study with our students of this book. I’d be astounded if I could somehow get him to reach out to my students as well.
I enjoyed hearing his enthusiasm for math and football and loved how the chapters alternated between the two as time progressed.
My colleague and I are considering doing a book study with our students of this book. I’d be astounded if I could somehow get him to reach out to my students as well.
I enjoyed hearing his enthusiasm for math and football and loved how the chapters alternated between the two as time progressed.