Author: David Leavitt
Publisher: Bloomsbury 2007
I picked up this book assuming that this is the story of Ramanujan. I got this impression after reading the description on the back-cover. However, this turned out to be more of a Hardy biography than a Ramanujan biography. In movie parlance, Hardy is the main actor and Ramanujan is one of several supporting actors. Disappointingly, there is very little references to the mathematics invented by Ramanujan. (There were few passerby references to hypergeometric series and partitions, but nothing significant.)
As a novel it is very interesting. In my Humble opinion, the author succeeded in bringing to life the atmosphere and the sub-culture of Oxbridge at the beginning of the 20th century in this book. For this reason alone, I recommend this book.
The following is a link to a review written by Heini Halberstan in AMS Notices.
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