The Map of My Life

The purpose of this book is manifold and includes more than just the author s strict recollections. Shimura not only writes about himself, but also about the atmosphere of the time. As a result, the author includes many things that are completely ordinary and known to almost everyone of my generation. I do so because since they are so ordinary, they will never be written, and as a consequence, will be forgotten. He has also included his opinions on various historical events and thoughts about human nature. In the latter part of the book, he writes about mathematics, and inevitably he uses technical terms. The reader who is not familiar with these terms should simply read through the passages in question without trying too hard to understand them. After all, this book is not about mathematics, but about how Shimura s life is related to the development of mathematics. To understand that interaction, it is not necessary to have any special knowledge of mathematics. Shimura spent most of his professional career at Princeton University. This book also delves into his childhood in Japan, his college years in Tokyo and Paris, as well as his numerous travels to conferences all throughout the world. Shimura provides charming stories of many of the 20th Centuries most important mathematicians.