Meanwhile, here —
Tuesday, August 4, 2020
Publication Date
Of Making Many Books There Is No End
Published today —
Related quotation —
Cover art published today —
Some mathematics related to the The Fixed Stars cover art,
from a post of May 1, 2020 —
The Escape from Plato’s Cave to . . .
See also Numberland and Walpurgisnacht Geometry.
Friday, May 1, 2020
Monday, May 14, 2018
Logos at Harvard
In 2013, Harvard University Press changed its logo to an abstract "H."
Both logos now accompany a Harvard video first published in 2012,
"The World of Mathematical Reality."
In the video, author Paul Lockhart discusses Varignon's theorem
without naming Varignon (1654-1722) . . .
A related view of "mathematical reality" —
Note the resemblance to Plato's Diamond.
Blackboard Jungle continues . . .
… from previous posts on Paul Lockhart.
For more on the new logo of the AMS as a symbol of
politically correct mediocrity, see a post of Jan. 10, 2018.
Saturday, March 23, 2013
Art History
Quoted in the March 13 post Blackboard Jungle:
"Every morning you take your machete into the jungle
and explore and make observations, and every day
you fall more in love with the richness and splendor
of the place."
— Paul Lockhart, A Mathematician's Lament
More from Lockhart's jungle—
Mathematical objects, even if initially inspired by some aspect of reality (e.g., piles of rocks, the disc of the moon), are still nothing more than figments of our imagination. Not only that, but they are created by us and are endowed by us with certain characteristics; that is, they are what we ask them to be…. … in Mathematical Reality, because it is an imaginary place, I actually can have pretty much whatever I want…. The point is that there is no reality to any of this, so there are no rules or restrictions other than the ones we care to impose…. Make up anything you want, so long as it isn’t boring. Of course this is a matter of taste, and tastes change and evolve. Welcome to art history! — Lockhart, Paul (2009-04-01). A Mathematician's Lament: How School Cheats Us Out of Our Most Fascinating and Imaginative Art Form (pp. 100-104). Bellevue Literary Press. Kindle Edition. |
Related material in this journal: Bellevue and Wechsler.
See also Gombrich in this journal and in the following:
Related material (Click for some background.) —
Monday, January 5, 2015
Gitterkrieg*
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
|
"I pondered deeply, then, over the
adventures of the jungle. And after
some work with a colored pencil
I succeeded in making my first drawing.
My Drawing Number One.
It looked something like this:
I showed my masterpiece to the
grown-ups, and asked them whether
the drawing frightened them.
But they answered: 'Why should
anyone be frightened by a hat?'"
* For the title, see Plato Thanks the Academy (Jan. 3).
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Blackboard Jungle
From a review in the April 2013 issue of
Notices of the American Mathematical Society—
"The author clearly is passionate about mathematics
as an art, as a creative process. In reading this book,
one can easily get the impression that mathematics
instruction should be more like an unfettered journey
into a jungle where an individual can make his or her
own way through that terrain."
From the book under review—
"Every morning you take your machete into the jungle
and explore and make observations, and every day
you fall more in love with the richness and splendor
of the place."
— Lockhart, Paul (2009-04-01). A Mathematician's Lament:
How School Cheats Us Out of Our Most Fascinating and
Imaginative Art Form (p. 92). Bellevue Literary Press.
Kindle Edition.
Related material: Blackboard Jungle in this journal.
See also Galois Space and Solomon's Mines.