Blueprints: How Mathematics Shapes Creativity
An Oxford mathematician, playwright, and musician reveals how creative people can harness the profound and productive relationship between mathematics and the arts

When Shakespeare has the Three Witches cast Macbeth's lot, he uses something very weird to do it: not simply “eye of newt and toe of frog,” but the number seven. And when Hamlet claims, “To be or not to be, that is the question,” Shakespeare reaches for eleven. For Shakespeare, prime numbers were magical. And he is not alone.

As Marcus du Sautoy showcases in Blueprints, creativity is inseparable from mathematics. The designs of Le Corbusier and Leonardo; the music of Glass, Bach, and Debussy; the wild visions of Dali, the choreography of Laban, the animation of Pixar-all are shot through with mathematics, from primes and fractals to the weirder worlds of Hamiltonian cycles and hyperbolic geometry. And Du Sautoy argues that the relationship runs both ways. Just as mathematics inspires new art, the artistic mindset is a necessity for discovering new mathematics.

Blueprints will expand your mind, but more importantly, it shows how to ignite your imagination. Anyone who wants to create needs this book.
1147011424
Blueprints: How Mathematics Shapes Creativity
An Oxford mathematician, playwright, and musician reveals how creative people can harness the profound and productive relationship between mathematics and the arts

When Shakespeare has the Three Witches cast Macbeth's lot, he uses something very weird to do it: not simply “eye of newt and toe of frog,” but the number seven. And when Hamlet claims, “To be or not to be, that is the question,” Shakespeare reaches for eleven. For Shakespeare, prime numbers were magical. And he is not alone.

As Marcus du Sautoy showcases in Blueprints, creativity is inseparable from mathematics. The designs of Le Corbusier and Leonardo; the music of Glass, Bach, and Debussy; the wild visions of Dali, the choreography of Laban, the animation of Pixar-all are shot through with mathematics, from primes and fractals to the weirder worlds of Hamiltonian cycles and hyperbolic geometry. And Du Sautoy argues that the relationship runs both ways. Just as mathematics inspires new art, the artistic mindset is a necessity for discovering new mathematics.

Blueprints will expand your mind, but more importantly, it shows how to ignite your imagination. Anyone who wants to create needs this book.
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Blueprints: How Mathematics Shapes Creativity

Blueprints: How Mathematics Shapes Creativity

by Marcus du Sautoy

Narrated by Mark Elstob

Unabridged

Blueprints: How Mathematics Shapes Creativity

Blueprints: How Mathematics Shapes Creativity

by Marcus du Sautoy

Narrated by Mark Elstob

Unabridged

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Overview

An Oxford mathematician, playwright, and musician reveals how creative people can harness the profound and productive relationship between mathematics and the arts

When Shakespeare has the Three Witches cast Macbeth's lot, he uses something very weird to do it: not simply “eye of newt and toe of frog,” but the number seven. And when Hamlet claims, “To be or not to be, that is the question,” Shakespeare reaches for eleven. For Shakespeare, prime numbers were magical. And he is not alone.

As Marcus du Sautoy showcases in Blueprints, creativity is inseparable from mathematics. The designs of Le Corbusier and Leonardo; the music of Glass, Bach, and Debussy; the wild visions of Dali, the choreography of Laban, the animation of Pixar-all are shot through with mathematics, from primes and fractals to the weirder worlds of Hamiltonian cycles and hyperbolic geometry. And Du Sautoy argues that the relationship runs both ways. Just as mathematics inspires new art, the artistic mindset is a necessity for discovering new mathematics.

Blueprints will expand your mind, but more importantly, it shows how to ignite your imagination. Anyone who wants to create needs this book.

Product Details

BN ID: 2940194702909
Publisher: Hachette Audio
Publication date: 09/16/2025
Edition description: Unabridged
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