Joseph Fuerst

Has anyone seen the movie "a beautiful mind" ? It is completely awesome. I
especially loved the way the portrayed schizophrenia. DH ran out
immediately and bought me the book....completely different than the movie,
though I found the full blown truth to be even more poigniant, hopeful, and
heartwarming than the movie.
BTW, it was amazing and enlightening to know that in the 1940's at
Princeton, the math department used what appears to be a definitive
unschooling approach. This was the most revered at for the times...the
likes of Einstein and other great thinkers had much influence. The new
arrivals in the graduate math dept were told that class attendance was
certainly optional and completely unnecessary. The only real requirement
was to be present at afternoon tea, where they played and invented games,
and discussed whatever....but the major 'problems' in mathematics were a
natural main force. This led many participants to amazing publications and
breakthroughs in their areas of study.
Susan
"If we want our children to grow up with the ability to think outside the
box, let's not put them in 'the box' to begin with." - me

[email protected]

Susan wrote about Beautiful Mind:

I also loved the movie A Beautiful Mind and am now enjoying the book even
more.

I especially thought of unschooling when they described the scene where John
Nash was found by a colleague at Princeton in the "tea room. (I think that's
where it was) and how he was just lying on a table looking up at the ceiling
and humming.

So many times we don't value the period of "not doing anything" John Nash
and others described in the book seemed to realize that the inactive,
thoughtful part of the process was indeed the most important.

Sometimes I read about those "golden times" in education, where the "thinker"
was still valued about the product with envy. But then I realize, especially
through reading about the emotional and mental struggles of many of these
brilliant people, that those times were also trying and probably not as
"golden" as I'd like to imagine.

Thanks for your thoughts on the book.

Caro (the ex-lurker)


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Joseph Fuerst

Hey Caro,
You picked out a scene/description from the book that I especially loved
also! Did you see the Nash interview on 60 minutes....it was horrible!!!
IMHO They didn't let him just talk. And what's-his-name interviewer seemed
quite condescending to John and his son.
Susan
----- Original Message -----
From: <Burkfamily@...>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, March 18, 2002 11:26 PM
Subject: Re: [Unschooling-dotcom] beautiful mind


>
> Susan wrote about Beautiful Mind:
>
> I also loved the movie A Beautiful Mind and am now enjoying the book even
> more.
>
> I especially thought of unschooling when they described the scene where
John
> Nash was found by a colleague at Princeton in the "tea room. (I think
that's
> where it was) and how he was just lying on a table looking up at the
ceiling
> and humming.
>
> So many times we don't value the period of "not doing anything" John
Nash
> and others described in the book seemed to realize that the inactive,
> thoughtful part of the process was indeed the most important.
>
> Sometimes I read about those "golden times" in education, where the
"thinker"
> was still valued about the product with envy. But then I realize,
especially
> through reading about the emotional and mental struggles of many of these
> brilliant people, that those times were also trying and probably not as
> "golden" as I'd like to imagine.
>
> Thanks for your thoughts on the book.
>
> Caro (the ex-lurker)
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
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[email protected]

Susan wrote:

> Did you see the Nash interview on 60 minutes....it was horrible!!!
> IMHO They didn't let him just talk. And what's-his-name interviewer seemed
> quite condescending to John and his son.
>

I agree. I kept waiting for more. There was nothing meaty in it at all and
it seemed to me that John Nash was the one who was trying to lighten it up a
bit and get a word in edgewise. Like when he mentioned that his wife really
probably was as beautiful as the actress who played her. I thought it was a
great example of media going into an interview with an agenda and not really
caring about the people involved. It was sad, to me, because with an
empathetic interviewer, it could have been so great. But, then again, I
don't know if the Nashes put restrictions on what could be talked about.
Sometimes that happens, too. It just seemed so inconsequential to me. I had
a million questions to ask John Nash and his wife (and their son, too!) But
they didn't hire me to do the interview! Aw shucks! Take care...I'm still
not finished with the book. I only read in the bathtub until I start to fall
asleep!

Caro


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