Episode · People I (Mostly) Admire · 2025-01-11
Books mentioned on Why Numbers are Music to Our Ears (Update)
Sarah Hart investigates the mathematical structures underlying musical compositions and literature. Using examples from Monteverdi to Lewis Carroll, Sarah explains to Steve how math affects how we hear music and understand stories.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
-
Once upon a Prime
Once Upon a Prime is an engaging exploration of the magical overlaps between literature and mathematics written by Sarah Hart.
Discussed“Sarah wrote a book called once upon a prize which dives into the magical overlap between literature and Mathematics”
-
Nationalism and Literature
Discussed“Sarah wrote a book called once upon a prize which dives into the magical overlap between literature and Mathematics”
-
The Luminaries
The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton is a sprawling, critically acclaimed historical novel set in New Zealand during the 1866 Gold Rush, a work that famously earned the author the prestigious Booker Prize in 2013.
Discussed“there's a book called The Luminaries by Elena Katen won the book of prize in 2013 and that book has a mathematical structure underneath it which is that every chapter is half the length of the one before”
-
Cent mille milliards de poèmes
Discussed“but when I talk about sonnets in the book actually the reason I talk about them is because of this French poet raymon Canó who wrote a little book called s the poem which is like a 100,000 billion poems”
-
Jude the Obscure
Jude the Obscure is a tragic classic novel by Thomas Hardy that famously critiques societal conventions, particularly regarding marriage and social class.
Discussed“my freaking a author Steven dub he started to get obsessed with these Six Word Stories and he was invited to be part of a book where they asked famous authors to write their own Memoir in six words”
-
Not Quite what I was Planning: Six-word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure
Discussed“my freaking a author Steven dub he started to get obsessed with these Six Word Stories and he was invited to be part of a book where they asked famous authors to write their own Memoir in six words”
-
Through the Looking-Glass
Through the Looking-Glass is a classic children's fantasy novel by Lewis Carroll that follows Alice's adventures in a strange, mirror-image world structured around a game of chess.
Discussed“Through the Looking Glass the sequel is based on chess and he actually said you could play that book as a genuine game of chess”
-
Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There. by
Discussed“Through the Looking Glass the sequel is based on chess and he actually said you could play that book as a genuine game of chess”
Other mentions in this episode (3) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
“Alice in Wonderland is based on cards there's the queen of hearts and those things”
“my book once upon a prime about the wondrous connections between mathematics and literature had just been published since then”
“my book once upon a prime about the wondrous connections between mathematics and literature had just been published since then”