The shapes of stories: from Vonnegut to big data
The most famous rejected Masters thesis Kurt Vonnegut (1922-2007) was a brilliant American author best known for his novel Slaughterhouse Five. Before his literary fame, he entered in to the University of Chicago’s anthropology Master’s program but never finished. Vonnegut submitted two Master’s theses that were both, unfortunately, rejected. In one thesis, he presented the idea that stories…
The mathematics of Game of Thrones
The Network of Thrones Is Jon Snow really dead? Will Tyrion Lannister continue his uneasy alliance with Daenerys Targaryen and survive his sister Cersei’s wrath? Will Sansa Stark escape from the sadistic Ramsay Bolton and take her place as Queen of the North? These questions, on the surface, have nothing to do with mathematics. However, according to a…
Flash review of Linesman by S.K. Dunstall
A weekend at the beach and pool was just what I needed to catch up on some reading. I completed S.K. Dunstall’s excellent novel Linesman, which came out in June this year. For me, one of the deepest questions posed by Linesman is how art and science interface. Artists talk of craft. Mathematicians talk about…
Septemberpocalypse
As I watched the pilot of Fear the Walking Dead, an inescapable truth dawned on me: it must be September once again. The days are shorter, leaves are falling, and it is my busiest time of year. Bar none. The university reanimates each September after a lull in the summer. Every seminar, committee, and course begins anew,…