When Srinivasa Ramanujan was born in the small town of Kumbakonam in 1887, his parents did not suspect that he would grow up to be one of the most extraordinary people in the world. In fact, he was such a quiet child that they worried he would never speak. But Ramanujan's grandfather taught him to read, the little boy rapidly discovered a delight in learning, especially in mathematics. It was a delight that would shape his life and that of everyone he met. Ramanujan's short life was one of extremes, of shining mental exuberance and great poverty, of unrelenting hard work and of equally unrelenting illness. But his genius, his sheer enthusiasm and his fervor for mathematics never dimmed and his legacy lives on.