The Bourbaki Gambit

by Carl Djerassi

I first heard the name of Nicolas Bourbaki during Carl Djerassi’s lecture last year. After that, I started to come across it now and then (e.g. Bourbaki is mentioned in both Knots and The Music of the Primes).

The Bourbaki Gambit is a better read than NO — probably because Djerassi empathises with the narrator, professor Max Weiss, much better than with Renu Krishnan of NO. The novel investigates the role of very human passions in science. Forget the curiosity. The original motivation to create Professor Diana Skordylis (kind of Bourbaki of biochemistry) by a group of ageing academics, including Weiss, is revenge. Then, as they make a revolutionary discovery of the polymerase chain reaction, the desire of recognition kills their unique collaboration — and Diana.

“Renga-style research doesn’t suit big egos.”