約翰‧納許早歲在數學領域嶄露過人天份，不到三十歲就破解許多數學界公認「不可解」的難題。在他名聲輝煌之際，這顆全世界最優秀的頭腦卻崩潰了；納許為精神分裂症所苦，陷入奇異的幻想深淵無法自拔，達三十年之久。

納許有如幽靈一般遊蕩在普林斯頓的校園，幾乎被世界遺忘。

但是他的另一半愛莉西亞並沒有忘記他，以無盡的愛意從旁陪伴與鼓勵；他的昔日同事也沒有忘記他，四處奔走，為他申請研究計畫，不願這位天才就此潦倒埋沒。而納許在「賽局理論」的貢獻更沒有被人遺忘，在當代社會科學成為最具影響力的理論，納許因此獲得 1994 年諾貝爾經濟學獎。

本書作者詳實而感性的寫出納許傑出而跌宕的一生，讓人一窺天才悲欣交集的美麗境界與人性散發高貴光芒的短暫片刻。

“HOW COULD YOU, A MATHEMATICIAN, BELIEVE THAT EXTRATERRESTRIALS WERE SENDING YOU MESSAGES?” the visitor from Harvard asked the West Virginian with the movie-star looks and Olympian manner. “Because the ideas I had about supernatural beings came to me the same way my mathematical ideas did,” came the answer. “So I took them seriously.”

Thus begins the true story of John Nash, the mathematical genius who was a legend by age thirty when he slipped into madness, and who—thanks to the selflessness of a beautiful woman and the loyalty of the mathematics community—emerged after decades of ghostlike existence to win a Nobel Prize for triggering the game theory revolution. The inspiration for an Academy Award–winning movie, Sylvia Nasar’s now-classic biography is a drama about the mystery of the human mind, triumph over adversity, and the healing power of love.