Kind of you to ask. Despite my best efforts and a rave review in Der Spiegel, it doesn't look like it sadly. I've pushed my agent and even tried to contact editors myself but despite having earned out its advance in 6 months in the USA, becoming a bestseller in Hungary and being translated into a dozen languages including Italian, Turkish and Korean, there has been no interest from a German publisher. The reasons given are so weak I can't bring myself to tell you them in public! Of course I wouldn't be so bothered if my wife's family weren't German but they are and my kids are fluent in the language too!
thank you for the quick reply and explanation. I asked my bookseller if there will be a German translation of your book and she could not find any information about it. That's why I wrote to you directly.
A few days ago I read a review of a Gödel biography by Stephen Budiansky in the online edition of the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" (FAZ), which also linked to a review of your book:
and who is himself a book author. Perhaps he could help find a publisher for your book. He is also active on Twitter, see https://twitter.com/rauchhaupt
I still had the idea to check which German-language publishers have published translations of biographies of famous mathematicians. Perhaps it would be worthwhile to approach those publishers again, if you haven't already.
Propyläen: Berlin-based publisher, imprint of the Ullstein Group.
Has published biographies of Kurt Gödel and J. Robert Oppenheimer, among others, as well as the translation of George Dyson: Turing's Cathedral, which also deals extensively with John von Neumann, especially in chapter 4.
Springer: A major scientific publisher based in Berlin.
Published among others David Foster Wallace - Everything and More, of em from 2007 to 2020 7 editions. The publishing house has a focus on "biographies".
BirkhäuserVerlag in Basel, Switzerland. This publisher published Norman Macrae's biography of John von Neumann in 1994, but is now an imprint of De Gruyter with a focus on architecture and design, so not appropriate.
I wish you good luck and I would very much appreciate it if your book would appear in German after all.
Thanks for your kind words! I know for a fact that my agent’s tried all those publishing houses and sometimes two editors at each. I’ve even tried approaching editors personally but been snubbed. Frankly if the stunningly good Der Spiegel review didn’t convince them to spend a few euros on doing the translation, then I doubt I will. One well regarded German scientist-author told me it might just be because my name’s ‘Bhattacharya’. 🤷♂️ We’ll try again at the London book fair but it’s as if German editors got together at a party in Munich, shook their heads woefully over their glasses of Sekt and all just said ‘Nein’.
Hi,
will there be a german version of your von Neumann biography in the forseeable future?
Cheers
Martin
Hi Martin,
Kind of you to ask. Despite my best efforts and a rave review in Der Spiegel, it doesn't look like it sadly. I've pushed my agent and even tried to contact editors myself but despite having earned out its advance in 6 months in the USA, becoming a bestseller in Hungary and being translated into a dozen languages including Italian, Turkish and Korean, there has been no interest from a German publisher. The reasons given are so weak I can't bring myself to tell you them in public! Of course I wouldn't be so bothered if my wife's family weren't German but they are and my kids are fluent in the language too!
Best wishes
Ananyo
Hi Ananyo,
thank you for the quick reply and explanation. I asked my bookseller if there will be a German translation of your book and she could not find any information about it. That's why I wrote to you directly.
A few days ago I read a review of a Gödel biography by Stephen Budiansky in the online edition of the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" (FAZ), which also linked to a review of your book:
https://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/buecher/rezensionen/sachbuch/stephen-budianskys-biographie-kurt-goedels-18745597.html
https://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/buecher/rezensionen/sachbuch/ananyo-bhattacharyas-biographie-john-von-neumanns-18253413.html
Both reviews were written by the science journalist Uld von Rauchhaupt, whose publications are presented here in an overview
https://www.faz.net/redaktion/ulf-von-rauchhaupt-11104059.html#authorPagination
and who is himself a book author. Perhaps he could help find a publisher for your book. He is also active on Twitter, see https://twitter.com/rauchhaupt
I still had the idea to check which German-language publishers have published translations of biographies of famous mathematicians. Perhaps it would be worthwhile to approach those publishers again, if you haven't already.
Propyläen: Berlin-based publisher, imprint of the Ullstein Group.
Ullstein Buchverlage GmbH
Friedrichstr. 126
10117 Berlin.
Germany
Tel.: +49-30-23456-300
Fax: +49-30-23456-303
info@ullstein.de
https://www.ullstein.de/verlage/propylaeen
Has published biographies of Kurt Gödel and J. Robert Oppenheimer, among others, as well as the translation of George Dyson: Turing's Cathedral, which also deals extensively with John von Neumann, especially in chapter 4.
Springer: A major scientific publisher based in Berlin.
Springer
Heidelberger Platz 3
14197 Berlin
Germany
https://www.springer.com/de
Graham Framelo's biography of Paul Dirac, among others.
Rowohlt Verlag based in Hamburg
Rowohlt Verlag
Kirchenallee 19
20099 Hamburg
Phone: +49-40-72 72-0
Fax: +49-40-72 72-319
E-mail: info@rowohlt.dehttps://www.rowohlt.de/Published among others Jim Holt - When Einstein Walked with Gödel
Piper Verlag
Piper Verlag
Georgenstrasse 4
80799 Munich
Germany
E-mail: info@piper.de
Phone: +49 (89) 381801-0
https://www.piper.de/
Published among others David Foster Wallace - Everything and More, of em from 2007 to 2020 7 editions. The publishing house has a focus on "biographies".
BirkhäuserVerlag in Basel, Switzerland. This publisher published Norman Macrae's biography of John von Neumann in 1994, but is now an imprint of De Gruyter with a focus on architecture and design, so not appropriate.
I wish you good luck and I would very much appreciate it if your book would appear in German after all.
Cheers
Martin
Dear Martin,
Thanks for your kind words! I know for a fact that my agent’s tried all those publishing houses and sometimes two editors at each. I’ve even tried approaching editors personally but been snubbed. Frankly if the stunningly good Der Spiegel review didn’t convince them to spend a few euros on doing the translation, then I doubt I will. One well regarded German scientist-author told me it might just be because my name’s ‘Bhattacharya’. 🤷♂️ We’ll try again at the London book fair but it’s as if German editors got together at a party in Munich, shook their heads woefully over their glasses of Sekt and all just said ‘Nein’.
Hi Ananyo,
sorry to hear what you say. May be I will sent an e-mail to the publishing houses just to make them aware that there is a demand.
All the best
Martin