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Some time ago, I came across an anecdotal story about the "Big Book of Proofs" that God always keeps up in the heaven, which records valid proofs of all theorems in the world. A noted mathematician was quoted as saying that if he was to die tomorrow, the first thing he would do is to take a look at the book, since he had such burning questions about some math proofs.

Kindly let me know if you happen to know the source and the person's name; I would love to quote them in my writing. Thank you for your time and help.

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  • $\begingroup$ @BarryCipra: Awesome! Thank you very much! $\endgroup$
    – A.Magnus
    Commented Dec 1, 2014 at 18:04

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I think the gentleman you're thinking of is Paul Erdős: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proofs_from_THE_BOOK

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    $\begingroup$ @AsafKaragila a simple correction/edit would be just fine, no need to play dumb :) $\endgroup$
    – daOnlyBG
    Commented Dec 1, 2014 at 18:27
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    $\begingroup$ But... that's the only way I can be dumb! Please don't take that away from me! :-P $\endgroup$
    – Asaf Karagila ♦
    Commented Dec 1, 2014 at 18:28
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    $\begingroup$ @AsafKaragila: Who is this Paul Erdős? Do you mean Erdős Pál by any chance? $\endgroup$
    – TonyK
    Commented Dec 1, 2014 at 18:45
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    $\begingroup$ For the record, I'm referring to the gentleman with the Erdős number of $0$. $\endgroup$
    – daOnlyBG
    Commented Dec 1, 2014 at 18:47
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    $\begingroup$ @TonyK: I didn't know him personally, so I can't say that he was my Pál. :-) $\endgroup$
    – Asaf Karagila ♦
    Commented Dec 1, 2014 at 18:59
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Based on Erdős's idea of that book of proofs that God keeps in Heaven, another book, called Proofs from the Book was written by Martin Aigner and Günter M. Ziegler.

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