2000, May, Boston: The Clay Mathematics Institute defines the seven most important unsolved problems in Mathematics and awards one million dollars for the solution of each one.

2002, November, St. Petersburg: the brilliant Russian mathematician Grigori [Grisha] Perelman "uploads" his proof of the Poincaré Conjecture on the internet: one of the seven "Millennium" problems that had puzzled the most important mathematicians since the early 20th century - had found its "master".

2006, August, Madrid: The mathematics community expects Grisha to attend the Fields Medal ceremony (the mathematical equivalent of a Nobel Prize) and accept his honorary distinction. The eccentric 40-year-old mathematician - living with his mother in a poor apartment - disdains friends and colleagues and declares himself absent.

2009, October, St. Petersburg: "Our meeting has no meaning," Grisha replies to the president of the Clay Institute committee, and - steadfast in his ethical principles - categorically rejects the one million dollars.

How did this enigmatic mathematician manage to "conquer" the problem, completely on his own, detached from society and his Western colleagues? What kind of creative processes fueled his unimpeded thinking with such computational power that pushed the concepts of mathematics to the farthest limits of logic? Under what conditions was he educated and with what ideals was he nurtured in the post-Stalinist era of the Soviet Union? How did he end up disdaining money and friends, and why does he refuse any communication and contact with the whole world?

Impressed by the uniqueness of this character and the peculiarity of this phenomenon in mathematics, the author-mathematician Masha Gessen dedicated herself to narrating the incredible biography of Grigori Perelman.

A true story, a mathematical mystery, the one million dollar prize, and the fate of a genius in our modern world.

"Triumph and tragedy are closely linked in the astonishing story of this rare mathematician who solved a problem of incredible difficulty by applying unimaginable methods. It is a wonderful, deeply human work. Read it and discover how the emotional, social, and intellectual worlds of Grisha were distilled into a perfect mathematical proof."

Ian Stewart