Main content

Manu Joseph: Serious Men

Serious Men tells the story of Ayyan Mani, who decides to improve his lot by convincing the world that his son is a mathematical genius, with surprisingly complicated results.

Serious Men tells the intertwined stories of wily Ayyan Mani - who tries to pass off his son as a mathematical genius - and life at the Institute of Theory and Research in Mumbai, where Ayyan works, and where veteran scientists battle over their pet theories about how life began on Earth.

Serious Men won the Hindu Best Fiction Award in 2010 and the 2011 PEN Open Book Award and was shortlisted for the Man Asian Literary Prize. It鈥檚 an unsettling comedy about inequalities in Indian society; it鈥檚 a portrait of a man doing his best for his family with unorthodox methods and unexpected results, and it鈥檚 a look at the romance and frustrations of scientific research.

Manu Joseph is a novelist and columnist.

(Picture: Manu Joseph. Photo credit: Roberto Ricciuti/Getty Images.)

Available now

49 minutes

Last on

Wed 9 Jun 2021 23:06GMT
成人快手 World Service

More episodes

Previous

Louise Penny: Still Life

Next

Jane Harper: The Dry

See all episodes from World Book Club

Broadcasts

  • Sat 5 Jun 2021 11:06GMT
    成人快手 World Service except East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa
  • Sun 6 Jun 2021 02:06GMT
    成人快手 World Service
  • Sun 6 Jun 2021 14:06GMT
    成人快手 World Service East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa only
  • Sun 6 Jun 2021 16:06GMT
    成人快手 World Service News Internet
  • Wed 9 Jun 2021 09:06GMT
    成人快手 World Service
  • Wed 9 Jun 2021 23:06GMT
    成人快手 World Service

Ten Amazing Interviews

Favourite episodes of World Book Club, featuring Maya Angelou and Henning Mankell.

Crime Fiction

Henning Mankel, Patrica Cornwell, Jo Nesbo: stars of the genre discuss their craft.

Tales from History

From the tulip fields of 17th Century Amsterdam to the trenches of World War One.

Podcast

  • World Book Club

    The world's great authors discuss their best-known novel.