Several years ago, I wrote a bit about fractals. I am revisiting that post here. I am so in favour of the actual infinite that instead of admitting that Nature abhors it, as is commonly said, I hold that Nature makes frequent use of it everywhere, in order to show more effectively the perfections of [...]
A day late. Sorry folks. But I think I may be talking to myself by now. So, since we are at #7, I think I’ll let that be the perfect ending of our little discussion group (for now). I know this was a little ambitious to take on (schedule-wise), so I will re-think another book [...]
What’s up with all these GEB posts? If you missed what we’re doing, read here. Remember, I’m no expert on all this, I’m just helping facilitate. I’m trying to read along with the rest of you! Current Assignment: For Monday, September 28 Read: Little Harmonic Labyrinth and Chapter V: Recursive Structures and Processes Listen: The [...]
I’ve been a bit under the weather the past few days, but I don’t want to get behind on this project. So… onward! Current Assignment: Thursday, September 24 (where is the month of September disappearing to!!??) Read: Contracrostipunctus and Chapter IV: Consistency, Completeness, and Geometry Listen: Contrapunctus 19 from the Art of Fugue (BWV 1050). [...]
We spent the weekend at Bald Head Island with family… what a great way to say goodbye to summer. In the BHI Conservancy shop we found a tempting book/kit: M. C. Escher Kaleidocycles: An Illustrated Book and 17 Fun-to-Assemble Three-Dimensional Models. , According to the publisher: A Kaliedocycle is a three-dimensional ring made from a [...]
I hope the MU puzzle didn’t discourage too many of you from continuing to read this book (see here for explanation of what we are doing and here for a schedule). I’m going to assume it was a busy weekend and people just didn’t get around to posting anything about the last section. That’s ok. [...]
Well, we’re off and running (pun intended). I hope you are beginning to see that this book is about much more than the intersection of mathematics, art, and music. Current Assignment: Monday, September 14 Read: Three-Part Invention and Chapter I: The MU-puzzle Listen: The Three-Part Ricercar, from the Musical Offering (BWV 1079), introduces the King’s [...]
Watch this video of the enigmatic Canon 1 ŕ 2 from J. S. Bachs Musical Offering (1747). The manuscript depicts a single musical sequence that is to be played front to back and back to front. A nice tie-in to our reading of Gödel, Escher, Bach. We’ll be reading about and listening to Crab Canon [...]
On Thursday of this week we will begin our group discussion of Hofstadter’s book, Gödel, Escher, Bach (see here for more details). I’m posting this a little early since it is the first assignment/discussion. The plan is to post on Thursdays and Mondays so that participants can start commenting (this means you will have to [...]
I’ve been thinking of finding some folks to “take” one of MIT’s OpenCourseware classes together. After thinking through various possibilities (face-to-face bookclub, social networks, listserv, etc), here’s my proposal: Use my blog as the meeting place and record of conversation for the MIT course: SP.258 / ESG.SP258 Gödel, Escher, Bach The Penrose triangle, also known [...]
