Mandelbrot the Magnificent

Mandelbrot the Magnificent by Liz Ziemska offers a magical pseudo-biography of Benoit B. Mandelbrot as he explores deep mathematics in forties’ France as a child and discovers the Mandelbrot set. It’s first-person, poignant, relatable, and reasonably historically accurate, as well as a light pleasant read. 

Mandelbrot, originator of the term “fractal,” died in 2010 at age 85. He contributed greatly to geometry, dynamical systems, information theory, and modern finance. Historically, he and his brother survived with fake IDs in the town of Tulle and even continued their studies. 

Most of the story is traditional Holocaust fiction, as the small family huddles together, experiencing moments of increasing cruelty and deprivation, considering whether to stay or flee. His uncle Szolem, a mathematician who recognizes his genius, is his mentor. Offered a position in Texas, however, he flees, insisting he must think of his son. 

Here the story grows mystical, as Mandelbrot seeks an escape within mathematics. Formulas and diagrams fill the small work, showing his thought process, even as he explores his conflicted allegiances: Is God a mathematician or is the world filled with randomness? 

The young protagonist is even more troubled when his mother urges him not to excel on exams and stand out. As this complicates his quest towards genius, Benoit starts to employ his understanding of the mathematical structures in his favorite text, The Book of Monsters, to incorporate rabbinic teachings. He learns about the Sephirot and blends his knowledge of kabbalah with math, using this blend as a lens to explore the workings of the universe. Here, the story briefly dips into gentle, subtle fantasy. The mathematical formulas of the Cantor dust, Koch snowflake, and Sierpiński triangle all lead him towards a non-integer Hausdorff dimension, as a possible escape. As the Nazis draw closer, he struggles to use this new dimension to save his loved ones. 

His achievement and limited participation in the war fit well with his age, and the subtlety of the magic makes this highly believable. The frame story, in which the narrator is elderly, is less helpful to the plot or clear about the real person’s historical achievements. This last might have been presented more strongly, including with a resource list. Still, in the context of Jewish fantasy and novellas, this one is delightful in its presentation of an unusual character with a highly unusual fantasy element. The love of math and logic here is plain.

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