Mind-Body Problem by Rebecca Goldstein is one of the few books I haven't pulled off the "New Book" shelf in the library. I actually requested it because I had enjoyed the author's treatment of Kurt Goedel's Imcompleteness Theorem in a semi-biography of Goedel that I never completed. Goldstein is one of those rare science authors who is equally comfortable with complicated science (math, physics, philosophy) as well as being able to write convincingly and entertainingly.
In this novel, the heroine Renee falls in love with and marries Noam Himmel, a famous mathematician who is the proverbial absent-minded professor when he is engrossed in his mathematical thinking. This leads to feelings of insecurity on the part of Renee and puzzlement or resentment on the part of Noam - when he thinks about it at all. Mixing the story with a healthy doze of Jewish culture and Yiddish sayings, Goldstein makes it a believeable tale.
The title refers to the classical question of whether or not a person's mind is just a part of the body like the heart or lungs. Or whether it is somehow distinct from and outlives the body as the soul spoken of by religions. Renee, a philosophy major, has chosen that as her field of study and her metaphor of life with Noam.
I found the references to mathematicians and their thought processes eerily familiar and wondered if my life would have been more like Noam Himmel's had I remained in mathematics. Although there are turns and twists in this book like in any good novel, I was really glad not to have chosen a path that would have placed me on that road. I'm also afraid that most non-mathematicians would find the book a little too heavy on philosophy and hints of mathematics.
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