Person
Every book Sarah Hart recommended on podcasts
Key facts
- Sarah Hart has recommended or discussed 6 books on podcasts, as of January 11, 2025.
- Sarah Hart has talked about books on 1 podcast, as of January 11, 2025.
- Those books came up in 2 episodes, as of January 11, 2025.
- The 3 books Sarah Hart has mentioned in the most episodes, as of January 11, 2025: A Void, The Luminaries and Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.
- The latest episode with a book mention from Sarah Hart aired on January 11, 2025.
Updated
Sarah Hart’s most recommended books
- A Void by Georges Perec
- The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton
- Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J. K. Rowling
- La Disparition by Georges Perec
- Moby Dick by Herman Melville
- Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll, Lewis Carroll, Lily Mathew, Lewis Lewis Carroll
Sarah Hart appeared on People I (Mostly) Admire to discuss the intersection of mathematics and literature, sharing insights from her own academic research and wide-ranging reading habits. Hart brought up Eleanor Catton's novel The Luminaries to explain how it utilizes an underlying mathematical structure and geometric progression in its chapter lengths. She also discussed Georges Perec's lipogrammatic novel A Void, originally titled La Disparition, to illustrate extreme literary constraints such as writing a whole novel without a single letter e. In another segment, Hart shared that she wrote an academic paper about the mathematics found in Herman Melville's Moby Dick. Furthermore, she discussed Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass to illustrate how entire narratives can be structured around games like chess, and she mentioned the giant spiders in J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone to discuss the square-cube law and how giant creatures would defy physics without the presence of magic.
Books recommended by Sarah Hart
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A Void
A Void by Georges Perec is an extraordinary, innovative novel written entirely without using the letter 'e', serving as a brilliant masterclass in literary constraint.
Discussed“whereas perex book called Lis barion The Disappearance and in English it's called aoid which both clever titles”
Where to get it
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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”
Where to get it
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Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K.
Discussed“the giant spiders that are in Harry Potter for instance as a mathematician yes I concur that there must be magic going on”
Where to get it
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La Disparition
Discussed“but the most famous One probably is George pereck who wrote a whole novel called la disparicion which doesn't contain a single letter e”
Where to get it
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Moby Dick
Moby Dick by Herman Melville is a classic 19th-century novel exploring the obsessions of Captain Ahab and the dramatic whaling voyage of the Pequod.
Discussed“I'm getting there. I wrote an academic paper actually about the mathematics in Moby Dick, and that came out in 2021.”
Where to get it
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Through the Looking-Glass
Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll is a classic children's fantasy novel and the sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, featuring famous scenes like Alice and the Red Queen running to stay in place.
Discussed“he hides it in some of the patterns in Alice in Wonderland and in through the Looking Glass and then games Alice in Wonderland is based on cards there's the queen of hearts and those things Through the Looking Glass the sequel is based on chess”
Where to get it
Books Sarah Hart wrote
Appearances
| Episode | Podcast | Date | Books |
|---|---|---|---|
| Why Numbers are Music to Our Ears (Update) | People I (Mostly) Admire | 2025-01-11 | 2 |
| 104. The Joy of Math With Sarah Hart | People I (Mostly) Admire | 2023-04-29 | 6 |
Other mentions (1: passing, ad reads, own books)
“my book once upon a prime about the wondrous connections between mathematics and literature had just been published since then”