>There is a core of sadness there. 2nd world war was rough on a whole generation of Europeans, and the writer George Perec exhibited similar frenetic activity and the use of arcane games to fend things off? Erdos's chosen game field was more useful of course.

I think you are completely missing the point here. Erdős chose to live like that. The title "the man who only loved numbers" is not a hyperbole.