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| A golden rectangle. |
Once Upon a Prime is like a love letter from Hart to her twin loves of mathematics and literature, describing how the two intersect. Her narration is superb at conveying that love and enthusiasm.
The book is organized into three sections:
First, she describes how mathematics has, in the long history of creative writing, been integrated into the structure of poetry, plays, and novels. She focuses on mathematically obsessed authors and literary movements, and the works they created. This was my favorite part of the book.
Second, she discusses some particular authors who used mathematical terms and concepts as metaphors in their works. She tangentially speculates on the possible cultural and biologically-based underpinnings of numbers, which recur through various myths, religions, and fairytales.
In the third section, she gives synopses of novels that are centered around math concepts, noting how some are more accurate than others. From there, Hart also describes other books that include characters who are mathematicians. She defends the honor of mathematicians, assuring us that they are not all savants and/or criminal masterminds.
In a light, chatty, and friendly sort of way, the book covers how mathematics, from numbers to algebra, geometry, calculus, and more, made its way into literature and popular culture. The books she mentions are clearly ones she read and enjoyed.
On a somewhat related note, I found it interesting to compare the book covers of the UK and US editions. The UK one is a simple blue and cream, featuring typeface and art reminiscent of a lithograph. The US one has a more contemporary and overtly math-y look, with images set on intersecting xy planes.
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| Books, perhaps about math. |
