MAY 2023 - AudioFile
Listeners, however well versed in literature and mathematics, or not, will relish author/narrator Sarah Hart's spirited tour of the long and intimate relationship between the two. Some may find the finer points of her readings of classics like MOBY-DICK and MIDDLEMARCH a bit daunting. But it hardly matters when the narrative is so informed and insightful and the narrator so infused with energy and enthusiasm. Hart holds Britain's oldest public lectureship, and she is especially skilled in summarizing storylines and abstract concepts so that the listener always has a general idea where she's going. Her reading of GULLIVER'S TRAVELS according to the laws of mass and gravity is a classic. Many of her concepts are more easily understood with graphics; following along with the pdf is recommended. D.A.W. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine
Publishers Weekly
02/20/2023
This spirited if inessential debut by Hart, a math professor at the University of London, surveys how math influences the structure, symbolism, and themes of literature. She posits that math and literature are linked in their common “quest” to “understand human life and our place in the universe,” and analyzes how Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Kurt Vonnegut, and Oscar Wilde, among others, make use of mathematical concepts in their work. She explores in Moby-Dick the calculations behind Ishmael’s observation that a soapstone released along the interior of a vat for rendering whale oil will take the same time to slide to the bottom regardless of the height it’s released from. However, it’s not clear how this relates to Hart’s contention that the use of math by Melville’s characters signifies vain efforts to control and “navigate the unknowable universe.” Elsewhere, she notes that the patterns and rhythms of poetry are rooted in math, suggesting that the prime numbers in the haiku format (three lines of five and seven syllables) make the lines “separate indivisible entities.” Such connections come across as amusing trivia, but Hart fares better when examining authors who deliberately looked to math for inspiration, such as the French experimentalists known as the Oulipo who in the 1960s sought to devise original literary forms from mathematical ideas. This won’t change how readers see their favorite books, but there are some entertaining tidbits. (Apr.)
From the Publisher
A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice
Winner of the Mathematical Association of America Euler Book Prize
A Most Anticipated Book (LitHub, BookRiot, Publishers Weekly, Next Big Idea Club)
“Wide-ranging and thoroughly winning…Funny…Fresh…Hart couldn’t be better placed to revisit the relationship between mathematical and literary study.”
—Jordan Ellenberg, The New York Times Book Review
"Wide-ranging...Hart takes readers on a fascinating tour of the world of numbers, finding connections between math and literature...Her prose throughout is clear, direct and jokey...Generally awesome."
—The Washington Post
"An exuberant enthusiasm for mathematics (and life in general) shines through Dr. Hart."
—The New York Times
“Professor Hart tackles these questions with the rigor of a mathematician—and the wit and creativity of a writer.”
—The Economist
“Compelling…Detailed and amusing…[Once Upon a Prime] allows itself moments of levity and is engaging, permeated with a love of good writing as well as good math. Perhaps that is how it should be read: as a homage to both.”
—New Scientist
“Ebullient…You can’t help but be won over by Hart’s playful exuberance—and she’s up there with Richard Dawkins or Marcus du Sautoy in having the rare gift of being able to explain thorny scientific ideas using canny cultural references…A joyous reminder of the way so much human creativity comes from joining the dots between seemingly disparate fields.”
—The Guardian (UK)
“This glorious compendium of mathematical fact and left-field literary appreciation deserves a large and varied readership…Once Upon a Prime is a joyful romp through the fascinating twinned history of maths and literature…This exuberant book will educate, amuse and surprise. It might even add another dimension to the way you read.”
—The Times (UK)
“Charming…A playful, generous book that wears its considerable erudition lightly and offers a welcome mat to those of us who find ourselves on one side of the divide and trying to cross over.”
—Washington Independent Review of Books
“Hart’s good-natured enthusiasm for both books and numbers is sure to set even the most math-shy readers at ease. That enthusiasm is contagious. Joy abounds…That mathematics can be such a wellspring of inspiration—and, in the case of literature, often inseparable from artistic creation itself—is a case that Hart's debut makes with undeniable warmth and exuberance.”
—Shelf Awareness (starred review)
“Ingenious…Readers will be amused.”
—Kirkus
“Spirited…Entertaining.”
—Publishers Weekly
“An absolute joy to read! Sarah Hart has created something wonderful: from nursery rhymes to Moby-Dick, she uncovers hidden links that I never could have imagined, but which I will never forget.”
—Steven Levitt, New York Times bestselling author of Freakonomics
“As an actress and math advocate, I often long for people to see the poetry in mathematics. I love this book. Sarah Hart illuminates hidden patterns and beautiful mathematics in well-known literature in a way that, simply put, fills me with joy. Brava!”
—Danica McKellar, actress and New York Times bestselling author
“A hugely entertaining and well-written tour of the links between math and literature. Hart’s lightness of touch and passion for both subjects make this book a delight to read. Bookworms and numberlovers alike will discover much they didn’t know about the creative interplay between stories, structure, and sums.”
—Alex Bellos, author of Here’s Looking at Euclid
“This lively and personal book uncovers quirky nuggets of mathematics in a wide variety of literature, with new perspectives on books I’ve already read and intriguing mathematical reasons to seek out some books I haven’t. Professor Hart is a welcome and fresh new voice in bringing math to a wider audience.”
—Eugenia Cheng, author of x+y and How to Bake Pi
MAY 2023 - AudioFile
Listeners, however well versed in literature and mathematics, or not, will relish author/narrator Sarah Hart's spirited tour of the long and intimate relationship between the two. Some may find the finer points of her readings of classics like MOBY-DICK and MIDDLEMARCH a bit daunting. But it hardly matters when the narrative is so informed and insightful and the narrator so infused with energy and enthusiasm. Hart holds Britain's oldest public lectureship, and she is especially skilled in summarizing storylines and abstract concepts so that the listener always has a general idea where she's going. Her reading of GULLIVER'S TRAVELS according to the laws of mass and gravity is a classic. Many of her concepts are more easily understood with graphics; following along with the pdf is recommended. D.A.W. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2023-01-21
A mathematician looks at fiction and poetry and discovers a great deal that excites her.
Hart opens by pointing out that Moby-Dick, Gulliver’s Travels, and Tristram Shandy all contain references to cycloids, a “beautiful mathematical curve.” Furthermore, Tolstoy writes about calculus, James Joyce about geometry. “Mathematical references in literary works,” writes Hart, “go back at least as far as Aristophanes’ The Birds, first performed in 414 BCE.” The author makes an entertaining case for the importance of math in literature, but literature lovers may or may not share her fascination. Genuine insights appear throughout along with a great deal of information that would be classified as oddball. Readers will be amused if not enlightened to learn about Georges Perec’s 1969 novel, La Disparition, in which the most common vowel, E, was absent. In the sequel, Perec used E but no other vowel. It’s unclear how many readers will share Hart’s wonder at books whose pages are scrambled or the chapters readable in any order. Much of her text is not concerned with mathematics but numerology, the popular if often mystical fascination with numbers and letters, but readers may perk up at her engrossing analysis of the significance of certain numbers in various cultures—e.g., “the nine realms of Norse mythology, the Five Pillars of Islam, and biblical references like seven deadly sins, the twelve apostles, the twelve tribes of Israel, the forty days and nights of Noah’s flood, [and] the seventh seal.” Hart detours into intriguing areas that require close attention, including fractals and cryptography. Halfway through, she returns to the classics, especially Melville, Tolstoy, Joyce, and Poe, with an entire chapter devoted to Swift and nearly as much to the only genuine mathematician among them, Lewis Carroll. Mathematics turns up here and there, but numerology continues to figure prominently, and Hart casts a critical eye on writers’ calculations and science, both of which are often incorrect.
Scattershot but often ingenious.
