A review by inkdeathinbloom
Mandelbrot the Magnificent by Liz Ziemska

5.0

This book was a little soft and a little heartbreaking. It leans on two factual premises: first, a generally historically accurate background on Benoit Mandelbrot and WWII, and the absolute marvel that is mathematics and scientific innovation- that it can be magical when it's new. Ziemska takes these two premises and combines them to blur the trauma of WWII. It's like an apology or a dream: how did we survive? Perhaps it's been blurred, or the hardest truths don't want to be remembered- but as is often the case when looking back on trauma, sometimes what we have faith in most is what saved us. A certain amount of magical thinking comes into play. And here, trauma is blurred by the magic of mathematics- a hiccuping apology, and it was sad and soft and beautiful and heartbreaking. Absolutely worth the hour it'll take you to read it.