Mystery to Me livestream, discussing "Shape: The Hidden Geometry of Information, Biology, Strategy, Democracy and Everything Else," with Meredith Broussard, via Crowdcast. RSVP for link.
Isthmus Picks for May 20-27 features a return to live theater from American Players Theatre and Madison Shakespeare Company, virtual community leadership awards presentations from YWCA Madison and Madison College, and much more.
âShapeâ Makes Geometry Entertaining. Really, It Does.
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âGirls canât do Euclid: can they, sir?â
âThe Mill on the Flossâ contains one of George Eliotâs sharpest caricatures in the figure of the foul schoolmaster Stelling. About girls, he reassures his young charges: âTheyâve a great deal of superficial cleverness; but they couldnât go far into anything.â
Certainly not geometry, that maker of men. Stelling embodied British pedagogy at the time, with all its complacent sexism and emphasis on rote memorization. But as the emphasis shifted from students parroting proofs to forming their own, geometry remained exalted for its power to cultivate deductive reasoning, to toughen and refine the mind.
Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth by Wole Soyinka (Bloomsbury)
The Nobel laureate’s first novel in almost 50 years promises “murder, mayhem and no shortage of drama” in contemporary Nigeria.
The Thursday Murder Club 2 by Richard Osman (Viking)
Last year the
Pointless co-host’s cosy crime debut set in a retirement home broke sales records; here comes the sequel.
Waters of Salvation by Richard Coles (W&N)
A new crime series from everyone’s favourite vicar begins as a proposal to refurbish a village church ends in murder; Canon Daniel Clement must investigate.
Oh, William! by Elizabeth Strout (Viking)