Read: When We Cease To Understand The World

I love this book. Benjamin Labatut’s “When We Cease to Understand the World,” is a masterful blend of fact and fiction detailing the lives of some of the most important players in the scientific and mathematical worlds. Yes, you read that correctly. The guy who got a “D” in college algebra is recommending a book about science and math.

This book is odd. When I picked this up at the local library, I’m 54 going on 100, I thought it was nonfiction. At the end of the first chapter I thought, “Turns out I know nothing about history.” And then it began to dawn on me what was happening. And what was happening works. This book is odd, alarming, perversely funny in ways that probably signify I’m a terrible human being. But that’s what good books do. They point out the obvious and horrible truth.