I particularly liked the chapter on Function Theory in the Unit Ball of C n. If you know his work already, you would connect it nicely. That part appeared a little informative, but technical read. In his autobiography, Rudin has discussed some of his contributions to mathematics as well. He discusses the path and family traits of that journey, in a somehat uncomplicated language. Like many scientific minds of that era, he had a long route to the United States. That part for once enthused me! Was wondering how Lausanne would have been 70 years ago! If you are completely unaware of the life in Europe around the WW period, then this will give you a perspective. There is a chapter on his days in Switzerland, which also touched upon Lausanne. However, I could connect many incidents from Rudin’s life, primarily because of the geography. The best I liked is the one from Karl Popper. Of course one cant write an imaginary story in an autobiography, but then the incidents in his life is pretty much the story of any European intellectual during the war days. From a mathematician who wrote excellent books on functional analysis and several others, I was expecting a much better story. It wasn’t particularly interesting, to say the least. His autobiography is titled The way I remember it, published by AMS in the history of mathematics series. I’ve finished reading the memoirs of Walter Rudin.
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