There are many mathematicians, or even physicists, who would find this book useful and accessible, but its distinctive attribute is the insight it gives into a brilliant mathematician's work. ... It is intriguing to sense between the lines Spencer's optimism, Kodaira's scepticism or the shadow of Grauert with his very different methods, as it is to hear of the surprises and ironies which appeared on the way. Most of all it is a piece of work which shows mathematics as lying somewhere between discovery and invention, a fact which all mathematicians know, but most inexplicably conceal in their work