Sylvia Nasar , (born 17 August 1947 in Rosenheim, Germany) is an economist first. She is most famous though for her book, A Beautiful Mind.a biography of John Nash, which was made into a popular movie, a movie about a mathematician. She reads novels, though, according to a recent interview in a column called "By the Book" dated August 10, 2012.
Against the odds of her finding any story line as interesting as real life, -- and she has demonstrated an ability not just to write well, but to appreciate the complexities of human situations, -- she reads Victorian novels, like Elizabeth Gaskell's books.
But the reading interests of anyone at the level of accomplishment Nasar demonstrates are of interest and here are some excerpts from the interview:
What book is on your night stand now?
Two biographies of Frances Trollope, Anthony Trollope’s mother; an Elizabeth Gaskell novel; and E. M. Delafield’s “Diary of a Provincial Lady.” Some cold war history.
When and where do you like to read?
In bed and in the car. I read page turners in bed and listen to more challenging books in the car.
What are your reading habits? Paper or electronic?...
I love buying (cheap) first editions of books I use for research. I didn’t see the point of a Kindle until my friend Trish Evans pointed out that I could carry the collected works of every 19th- and early-20th-century writer with me. Being able to travel with an entire library is amazing.
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What were your favorite books as a child? Do you have a favorite character or hero from one of those books? Is there one book you wish all children would read?
Against the odds of her finding any story line as interesting as real life, -- and she has demonstrated an ability not just to write well, but to appreciate the complexities of human situations, -- she reads Victorian novels, like Elizabeth Gaskell's books.
But the reading interests of anyone at the level of accomplishment Nasar demonstrates are of interest and here are some excerpts from the interview:
What book is on your night stand now?
Two biographies of Frances Trollope, Anthony Trollope’s mother; an Elizabeth Gaskell novel; and E. M. Delafield’s “Diary of a Provincial Lady.” Some cold war history.
When and where do you like to read?
In bed and in the car. I read page turners in bed and listen to more challenging books in the car.
What are your reading habits? Paper or electronic?...
I love buying (cheap) first editions of books I use for research. I didn’t see the point of a Kindle until my friend Trish Evans pointed out that I could carry the collected works of every 19th- and early-20th-century writer with me. Being able to travel with an entire library is amazing.
..............
What were your favorite books as a child? Do you have a favorite character or hero from one of those books? Is there one book you wish all children would read?
Grimms’ fairy tales. My favorite was “The Bremen Town Musicians,” about a dog, cat, donkey and rooster, all over the hill, who learn that they are about to be discarded or worse. They decide to take matters into their own hands. I made my mother and grandmother read it to me so often that I could recite the whole story word for word.
....
What’s the best book about economics you’ve ever read? ...
There are so many great ones, but these are exquisite: “John Maynard Keynes,” by Robert Skidelsky. “Bankers and Pashas,” by David Landes. “The House of Rothschild,” by Niall Ferguson. “Economic Sentiments,” by Emma Rothschild. “Poverty and Compassion,” by Gertrude Himmelfarb.
[What does your work space look like?]
Painted woodwork; tiled fireplace; a 1920s art-glass fixture; a 10-foot-long desk; 19th-century paintings of lighthouses and railroads; old globes; books, of course; and through the windows, my garden, currently a riot of orange and salmon-colored tulips and pink and white viburnums. I can look up and see whether I’m about to miss the garbage collection or Emma, the Labrador, is chasing the neighbor’s cat. .....
Is there a book you wish you could write, but feel as if you can’t or never will?
I’d love to write biographies of Frances Trollope; Elizabeth Gaskell; E. M. Delafield; Wilkie Collins; Frank Ramsey; John von Neumann; S. S. Chern and other Chinese and Japanese mathematical émigrés; Paul Krugman; and my father — as well as books about cold war spies, the 1940s German economic miracle, the Chinese Cultural Revolution, medical hoaxes, do-gooders behaving badly. I hope to write more books, but since I’m always discovering new enthusiasms, I doubt I will be writing them all.
What is your favorite book to teach or otherwise ask your students of journalism to read?
“Den of Thieves,” by James B. Stewart; “Globalization: The Irrational Fear That Someone in China Will Take Your Job,” by Bruce Greenwald and Judd Kahn; “An Hour Before Daylight,” by Jimmy Carter; “Economics,” by Paul Krugman and Robin Wells.
What’s the one book you wish someone else would write?
A great biography of John von Neumann, the most important mathematician of the 20th century.
If you could meet any writer, dead or alive, who would it be? What would you want to know? ...
....
What’s the best book about economics you’ve ever read? ...
There are so many great ones, but these are exquisite: “John Maynard Keynes,” by Robert Skidelsky. “Bankers and Pashas,” by David Landes. “The House of Rothschild,” by Niall Ferguson. “Economic Sentiments,” by Emma Rothschild. “Poverty and Compassion,” by Gertrude Himmelfarb.
[What does your work space look like?]
Painted woodwork; tiled fireplace; a 1920s art-glass fixture; a 10-foot-long desk; 19th-century paintings of lighthouses and railroads; old globes; books, of course; and through the windows, my garden, currently a riot of orange and salmon-colored tulips and pink and white viburnums. I can look up and see whether I’m about to miss the garbage collection or Emma, the Labrador, is chasing the neighbor’s cat. .....
Is there a book you wish you could write, but feel as if you can’t or never will?
I’d love to write biographies of Frances Trollope; Elizabeth Gaskell; E. M. Delafield; Wilkie Collins; Frank Ramsey; John von Neumann; S. S. Chern and other Chinese and Japanese mathematical émigrés; Paul Krugman; and my father — as well as books about cold war spies, the 1940s German economic miracle, the Chinese Cultural Revolution, medical hoaxes, do-gooders behaving badly. I hope to write more books, but since I’m always discovering new enthusiasms, I doubt I will be writing them all.
What is your favorite book to teach or otherwise ask your students of journalism to read?
“Den of Thieves,” by James B. Stewart; “Globalization: The Irrational Fear That Someone in China Will Take Your Job,” by Bruce Greenwald and Judd Kahn; “An Hour Before Daylight,” by Jimmy Carter; “Economics,” by Paul Krugman and Robin Wells.
What’s the one book you wish someone else would write?
A great biography of John von Neumann, the most important mathematician of the 20th century.
If you could meet any writer, dead or alive, who would it be? What would you want to know? ...
Henry James is my idea of the perfect friend. He was a brilliant talker, journalist, traveler, gardener, decorator, correspondent, as well as my favorite writer. He is not primarily an intellectual like Proust or Tolstoy, deeply interested in abstract ideas, but he is much warmer, sensitive and compassionate. ...
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