+Resource blog
Once Upon A Prime by Sarah Hart
Scott W.'s Recommendation for the 510 Club | April 2024
Once Upon A Prime by Sarah Hart is a book about books.
It is well written, divided into easily-digestable chapters encompassing various ways numbers and words can be intertwined, from across the world and throughout history.
From mathematicians writing novels (such as Charles Dodgson aka Lewis Carroll) to authors wrapping number theory around pure literature (Eleanor Catton, for example) to the patterns of poetry, geometry as metaphor and mathematical concepts as characters, maths is as much a part of writing (for some, at least) as letters and words.
Many a mathematician is also discussed, be they real or a character; their works, lives, and personalities.
If you like books about literature, you'll like it.
If you like books about maths & maths history, you'll like it.
If you like books full of weird trivia, you'll like it.
It also includes notes, references and suggestions for further reading, so "you're going to need a bigger bookcase!"
Bonus: Read an interview with the book's author, Sarah Hart, at Quanta Magazine: https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-theorist-who-sees-math-in-art-music-and-writing-20240112
WHAT IS THE 510 CLUB?
The 510 Club is named after the Dewey Decimal classification for Mathematics. It is a book recommendation project facilitated by Mathateca that is published in the monthly Christchurch MathsJam newsletter and on the Facebook page. Each month we feature a mathematical book recommendation, whether that’s a novel, articles / essays, a puzzle book, textbook, biography... just as long as it features maths in some way. Read the above book at your leisure then feel free to comment your thoughts below, or come along to the following Christchurch MathsJam sessions to join in an informal maths/book chat with the reviewer.
We're always looking for suggestions! If you're interested in contributing a book rec one month, please email christchurch@mathsjam.com to sign up.
