John Urschel

An amazing and unique story. John Urshel grew up with two passions in life: football, which he discovered in high school, and math, which he discovered very young. His dedication and determination are detailed in every chapter of this book, in which he alternately discusses his two careers: (a) football, moving from a small Catholic high school in Buffalo to a scholarship at Penn State, when it got sanctioned by the NCAA in 2011 for the Jerry Sandusky scandal, to being drafted by the Baltimore Ravens and making it to a starting offensive line position in the NFL, and (b) math, where his intellectual curiosity motivated him to take courses well above his academic qualifications. His learning and collaborative efforts on the field and in research are very impressive, and his attempts to explain his math research to laymen is commendable. Finally, Urshel's decision to retire from football at age 26 to become a mathematician is easily understandable given the rigors and violence of the sport. Recommended.… (mehr)

A fascinating memoir, and a very different look at an NFL football player. For people who have the mistaken belief that professional sports figures can also have an intellectual bent, this book will show them different. High concept mathematics, auditing classes at college, at the young she of thirteen. A father and mother, though no longer together, that gave Urschel what he needed to excel in both interests in his life: math and football. Most of these mathematical explanations were way beyond my knowledge, though I had at least heard of some of the theroems.

Football, well there I'm comfortable. Penn State football where Urschel played, and the devastating fall out from the Sandusky case, where unfortunately the students and athletes who punished, were not even present during those years. Urschels dedication to his team mates and school kept Urschel from transferring. His dedication to his studies, his motivation, the way he balanced his life on and off the field, was amazing.

His thoughts as he tries to figure out which course he should pursue, his time with the Ravens, the NfL combine, and so much more. A good book to give the young athletes in your life as it shows how love of sports can be combined with love of study, and how to do both well.

ARC from Edelweiss.… (mehr)

I read the bulk of this book, two hundred pages, in one sitting.

It was so engrossing partly because of how well written this book is, the co-author, Louisa Thomas is a well known writer; and partly because the book addresses two worlds that are dear to my heart: mathematics and sports. I didn’t engage either one of the worlds in the depth that the author does, I am an engineer and a youth coach, but the juxtapositions of the two worlds was held deep attraction for me.

For most of the general audience the two worlds are seemingly diametrically opposed, but the authors manage to portray the deep love that the two world engenders in John Urschel. Indeed, the authors did a magnificent job coupling the two seemingly disparate threads together into a cogent whole. At first, I feared that I was going to dislike the structure of the book: they chose to alternated math and football chapters, but the book was so well written that my perceived distraction evaporated as I dove into the book.

John Urschel’s story is widely reported in the popular press. He straddled the football and math worlds as an undergraduate, a graduate student, and a post grad while playing at Penn State and in the NFL. He was good enough to be drafted by the Baltimore Ravens and having a productive three years while also studying for his PhD in mathematics at MIT. This book roughly described his journey. The book tells a great story in an unselfconscious and natural way. John Urschel came through the account as a genuine and honest person, even as he addressed a few issues that could have been controversial: the fall out from the Sandusky affair at Penn State and the effect of repeated concussions on his potential as a mathematician, he honestly told his story focused on his own perceptions and thoughts, while assiduously avoided inflaming any nerves. He told the story through his eyes without extrapolating the facts to come to any indefensible conclusions, which is all we can ask for.

The other part of the book that could have been difficult is the mathematics. I have had the background and training to get through most of the mathematics, most of the concepts were on an advanced undergraduate to graduate level, John Urschel’s teaching ability was evident and shone through in his explanations of some of the more advanced mathematics topics. I moved away from any thoughts of majoring in mathematics after my initial experience with real analysis, so I was cognizant but not an expert in many of the areas; but I was able to understand his explanations of his work in Graph Theory, algorithm development, uncertainty, and spectral bisection. His explanations assume some background in math, but he was able communicate to the readers in an exceptionally clear fashion just in terms of concepts and intuition and without employing any mathematical language. In fact, intuition was his guiding light as he powered through his way through his mathematical explorations, and he was able to explain the role that intuition played in his mathematical thoughts.

The football portions of the story were told somewhat matter-of-factly. I would imagine that this was intentional, as the authors may have assumed that the general public who would read this book are thoroughly engaged in the intensity and passions of football in America. Two parts of the football story engaged me: his freshman year workouts with his strength and condition coach at Penn State and the Raven’s win over the Pittsburgh Steelers and loss to the New England Patriots in the NFL playoffs. Those stories captured and conveyed the passion that John Urschel had of the game of football as well as the mindset he employed to become successful in football.

In possibly one of the great acts in self-awareness and honesty comes in the last chapter when he describes why he walked away from football and is devoting his considerable intellect to mathematics. Unlike most great athletes, he recognized his shortcomings and he was able to explain his logic and reasoning for walking away with aplomb and honesty.

I was a nice easy read but the book talks about the mathematics that he is doing as well as taking the reader though his life so far. I think that our culture’s preoccupation with specialization drives our internal narrative. We are expected to focus and be great at one thing, that one thing should give us all a good life while contributing to the orderly conduct of our life in society, but we all know that human beings are complex, and our intellect can be multi-faceted. What John Urschel’s story illustrates is that by exceeding societal expectations in terms of what his role is in life, he is staking his claim as a polymath.

This was, a very enjoyable and entertaining read.… (mehr)