Which Door has the Cadillac: Adventures of a Real-Life Mathematician [Paperback]

Andrew Vazsonyi (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 15, 2002

In Which Door Has the Cadillac?, Andrew Vazsonyi reveals the personal side of a mathematician who passionately believes that the more people know about real-life math, the better their lives will be. Laced with offbeat humor and plenty of anecdotes, his memoir will be appreciated by readers interested in a lively, personal account of the world by someone who lives and breathes math.As Carol J. Latta, executive director of the Decision Sciences Institute, says, "For over three decades, Andy Vazsonyi has shared his passion and genius for real-world math with his colleagues in the decision sciences community. His memoir reflects the combination of his extraordinary intellect and prevailing sense of humor."Martin K. Starr, Distinguished Professor of Management Science and Operations Management at Rollins College's Crummer Graduate School of Business, says, "Andy's memoirs are an unconventional trip to places you can never find again with people who remain great even though they are no more, in ways that only Andy's mind can fashion."Master stories by the master storyteller! Andy Vazsonyi has been my mentor and inspiration for my entire career.Nancy Weida, Chair, Management Department, Bucknell UniversityI am delighted to see that others will share the life story of my father whose love, creativity and self-reliance has been a constant source of inspiration to me.Bobbi Chaney, M.A. psychotherapist, author, and musician

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Andrew Vazsonyi is an internationally recognized author, researcher and educator. Prior to becoming an educator, he served for twenty-five years in industrial positions. These days he focuses on books, articles, and his website (www.reallifemath.com), applying Microsoft Excel and Visual Basic to the decision sciences, including healthcare systems.

Product Details

• Paperback: 328 pages
• Publisher: iUniverse (December 15, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0595260624
• ISBN-13: 978-0595260621
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,689,109 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars pretty darn good, July 4, 2004

By 

Maxim (Far Rockaway, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Which Door has the Cadillac: Adventures of a Real-Life Mathematician (Paperback)

A nice, fun autobiography. Not as good as "Surely you are Joking, Mr. Feynman", but quite entertaining. Andrew is basically a guy who started off as a 'pure' mathematician who 'sold out' to do stuff that is actually useful (due to circumstances) and has grown to love what he did as he went along applying mathematics to 'real life'. On top of it he had about at least 4 careers, going from and aerodynamics engineer for one of the early missle programs to a managment consultant to a marketing wiz to a professor. Combining this with his 'Marsian-Hungarian' background this makes for a lot of interestiong stories.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Read!, February 24, 2003

By 

Sky Chaney (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Which Door has the Cadillac: Adventures of a Real-Life Mathematician (Paperback)

I just finished Which Door Has the Cadillac. As far as I know it is the first autobiography written by a modern mathematician, as the others are biographies. Vazsonyi has written a fast-paced, humorous, and engaging story of his life. I was moved by his personal struggles to escape Hungary before the Nazi onslaught. Interesting anecdotes of his encounters with notable and not-so-notable people, such as Paul Erdos and Zepartzatt Gozinto, made it difficult to set the book down. My vision of math has been expanded by Vazsonyi's quirky and yet grounded examples. The probabilities associated with the Cadillac problem are excitedly counterintuitive. It doesn't surprise me that even Paul Erdos was fooled by this problem. My favorite chapter was The Galloping Fighter Plane. All and all an excellent read!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What an Amazing Life, February 23, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Which Door has the Cadillac: Adventures of a Real-Life Mathematician (Paperback)

What an interesting book from a man who has lived through the most momentous moments of the 20th century!

Don't worry --- this isn't a math book; it's the memoirs of Andrew Vazsonyi's journey from pre-war Hungary to modern-day California, and the ways that math has helped him to solve real problems, and have fun.

The style is easy and fun. Highly recommended.