A review by loopyjazz
Once Upon a Prime: The Wondrous Connections Between Mathematics and Literature by Sarah Hart

informative medium-paced

5.0

 Excellent book at the intersection of math and literature. The author navigates smoothly between math used in poetry as form and structure, to the use of math and math literacy of various authors, and finally to characters who lean on the strength of their mathematics. One of the major points being that math is fun and creative much like literature. Math isn’t necessarily just arithmetic. Mathematicians aren’t just human calculators. I think that is the failing of how I was taught math in school, which leaned heavily on memorization of our times tables, but also the memorization of the process. The failing was that the fun and creative process doesn’t get introduced early enough. The world is numbers. It is in literature and it is in nature. Seeing the beauty of math is meaningful and I think the author does well to convey this.