Writing this book was an unexpected journey down a rabbit hole, and I’ve been extremely grateful for the help and support I received along the way. Early reads and encouragement from Cecily Parks, Louisa Hall, and Andrew Bujalski were crucial. Amy Williams’s enthusiasm was heartening and infectious. I am also indebted to the following people who read drafts of the book and offered insightful comments: Ric Ancel, David Ben-Zvi, Pam Colloff, Lauren Meyers, Dominic Smith, and Kirk Walsh. And to Jessica Halonen for her wonderful art.
I count myself very fortunate to have Emily Bell as an editor, and I’d also like to thank everyone else at FSG, in particular Jackson Howard, Lottchen Shivers, Karla Eoff, Scott Auerbach, and Thomas Colligan.
Thanks also to the Ucross Foundation, and to Sharon Dynak and Tracey Kikut and Cindy Brooks in particular, for the gifts of time and space and sustenance.
Many books and articles informed this project, and of those I’d like to acknowledge The Apprenticeship of a Mathematician, by André Weil; Simone Weil’s essays and letters; At Home with André and Simone Weil, by Sylvie Weil; Simone Weil, by Simone Pétrement; Remarkable Mathematicians, by Ioan James; Bourbaki: A Secret Society of Mathematicians, by Maurice Mashaal; Mathematical Thought from Ancient to Modern Times, by Morris Kline; and Mathematics Without Apologies, by Michael Harris. Excerpts from André’s 1940 prison letter to his sister are from Martin Krieger’s translation.
Though I’m not able to name them all, I am also thankful for every schoolteacher, professor, teaching assistant, and fellow student who taught me math over the years.