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Lately I have enjoyed reading several autobiographies and correspondences of mathematicians. I'd like to find more, so I thought I'd ask here which others you have come across and enjoyed.

P.S. I have collected suggestions from answers to an earlier similar question Autobiography of mathematicians and this one into the following list:

Autobiographies

(1) Souvenirs d'apprentissage, André Weil (In English: Apprenticeship of a Mathematician)

(2) Récoltes et Semailles, Alexander Grothendieck

(3) Un mathématicien aux prises avec le siècle, Laurent Schwartz (In English: A Mathematician Grappling with His Century)

(4) The Map of My Life, Goro Shimura

(5) A Mathematician's Apology, G. H. Hardy

(6) Adventures of a Mathematician, Stanislaw Ulam

(7) I Am a Mathematician, Norbert Wiener

(8) Love and Math, Edward Frenkel

(9) I Want to Be a Mathematician: An Automathography in Three Parts, Paul Halmos

(10) Un mathématicien juif, Häim Brezis

(11) La forme d'une vie: Mémoires (1924-2010), Benoit Maldelbrot (In English: The Fractalist: Memoir of a Scientific Maverick)

(12) Théorème Vivant, Cédric Villani (In English: Birth of a Theorem: A Mathematical Adventure)

(13) To Talk of Many Things, An Autobiography, Dame Kathleen Ollerenshaw

(14) Will to Freedom, Egon Balas

(15) So hab ich's erlebt, Walter Rudin (In English: The Way I Remember It)

(16) Eine Frau und die Mathematik 1933--1940: der Beginn einer wissenschafltichen Laufbahn, Helene Braun

(17) Wspomnienia I zapiski, Hugo Steinhaus (In German: Erinnerungen und Aufzeichnungen)

(18) A Mathematical Autobiography, Saunders Mac Lane

(19) Random Curves: Journeys of a Mathematican, Neal Koblitz

(20) Enigmas of Chance: An Autobiography, Marc Kac

(21) Vospominanifa detstva, Sofya Kovalevskaya (In English: A Russian Childhood)

(22) De Vita propria, Girolamo Cardano (In English: The Book of My Life)

(23) Ex-Prodigy: My Childhood and Youth, Norbert Wiener

(24) Eye of the Hurricane, Richard Bellman

(25) Passages from the life of a philosopher, Charles Babbage

(26) Autobiography of Sir George Biddell Airy

(27) Schrijf dat op, Hans. Knipsels uit een leven, Hans Freudenthal (In English: Write that down, Hans. Excerpts from a life)

(28) A Half Century of Polish Mathematics: Remembrances and Reflections, Kuratowski, Kazimierz

(29) La mia vita di matematico attraverso la cronistoria dei miei lavori, Francesco Giacomo Tricomi

(30) Pushing limits : From West Point to Berkeley & Beyond, Ted Hill

(31) My Search for Ramanujan: How I Learned to Count, Ken Ono and Amir D. Aczel

Correspondence

(1) Grothendieck-Serre Correspondence (AMS/SMF)

(2) Correspondance Serre-Tate (SMF)

(3) Ramanujan: Letters and Commentary (AMS)

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  • $\begingroup$ Norbert Wiener also has a companion volume, "Ex-Prodigy". $\endgroup$
    – Daniel Asimov
    Commented Nov 14, 2020 at 5:21

4 Answers 4

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Edward Frenkel's "Love and Math" is a mix of popular maths book, autobiography, and general declaration of love towards mathematics.

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  • $\begingroup$ I think this was not mentioned in the earlier autobiography thread. Maybe you could add it there. $\endgroup$
    – Gerry Myerson
    Commented Nov 14, 2020 at 0:58
  • $\begingroup$ @Gerry Myerson: done! $\endgroup$
    – Alex B.
    Commented Nov 14, 2020 at 2:02
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Haïm Brezis: Un mathématicien juif.

I don't know whether it has been translated in English.

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    $\begingroup$ I think this was not mentioned in the earlier autobiography thread. Maybe you could add it there. $\endgroup$
    – Gerry Myerson
    Commented Nov 14, 2020 at 0:58
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I think you will enjoy Norbert Wiener's autobiographic "I Am a Mathematician".

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  • $\begingroup$ I think there's an 'a' in the title. Do you know if either this or Halmos's I want to be a mathematician was named in response to the other? $\endgroup$
    – LSpice
    Commented Nov 13, 2020 at 18:18
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    $\begingroup$ Thanks, LSpice, corrected. I originally read it as a kid in Russian translation, where there are no articles, so I actually checked the Amazon page before posting. The title there has no article, but on the photo of the cover there is an "a", so this must be a typo on the Amazon page. I don't know whether this echo of Halmos is deliberate. $\endgroup$
    – Alex B.
    Commented Nov 13, 2020 at 18:23
  • $\begingroup$ Amazon lists Wiener's as from 1964, and my copy of Halmos's is copyright 1985, so I guess the echoing would have to go the other way. $\endgroup$
    – LSpice
    Commented Nov 13, 2020 at 18:35
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Paul R. Halmos: I Want to Be a Mathematician: An Automathography.

Benoit B. Maldelbrot: La forme d'une vie: Mémoires (1924-2010).

Cédric Villani: Théorème vivant.

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    $\begingroup$ I hardly dare suggest something about community norms to someone with 14 times my reputation, but I think that big-list tradition is to have one answer per post so that people can vote on them individually. (In particular, I don't know the other books, but really want to upvote Halmos's.) $\endgroup$
    – LSpice
    Commented Nov 13, 2020 at 18:17
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    $\begingroup$ Oh I am sorry, in fact I rarely answer big lists questions, but I found this this one particularly interesting :-) Should I split the answer in three? $\endgroup$
    – Francesco Polizzi
    Commented Nov 13, 2020 at 18:20
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    $\begingroup$ I think that is the norm. It'll be made CW eventually, so there is no difference in terms of 'unduly' earning triple reputation. $\endgroup$
    – LSpice
    Commented Nov 13, 2020 at 18:33
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    $\begingroup$ ok. Unfortunately the question is now closed, so adding new answers is not possible anymore. On this one, I will leave it like this. $\endgroup$
    – Francesco Polizzi
    Commented Nov 13, 2020 at 18:52

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