Commentary

Book Review: Unearthing the Lost Culture of Mathematics

February 9, 2012
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Elegantly written, cogently argued, and filled with trenchant artistic analyses, Alexander Marr’s book exemplifies interdisciplinary studies at their best.

Fun Days in the PARC: Remembering Jacob Goldman

December 24, 2011
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How did it come about that a manufacturer of office equipment developed–and then largely abandoned–the first personal computer?

Arts Interview: Cutting Across Mathematics and the Arts — Talking With The Man Who Knows Galileo’s Muse

December 1, 2011
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We need the humanities because we need imagination that works outside the narrow channels where the sciences succeed.

Book Review: A Brave New Perspective on the Arts and Sciences — “Galileo’s Muse”

November 29, 2011
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“Galileo’s Muse” is a gem of a book: shedding new light on a figure as well-examined as Galileo is no simple task. Author Mark Peterson does so with aplomb, while also telling a fascinating story of the evolution of mathematics and the arts.

Arts Feature: Artisan’s Asylum — A Unique Organizational Mashup

November 22, 2011
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Part of the great experiment that is Artisan’s Asylum: meeting your neighbors, realizing you need someone to help you solder/weld/create a 3d prototype, and then wandering amongst the open workspaces until you meet a co-collaborator.

Visual Arts Review: Wendy Artin — Translating Marble Onto Paper

November 17, 2011
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Wendy Artin is not just about representation. Her paintings bring up all sorts of questions about the complexities of beauty. How do we build up beauty from matter? What happens to beauty over time? Does an object lose its beauty when time wears away at it?

Goodbyes and Hellos: Remembering Dennis Ritchie

October 13, 2011
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If you’re reading this on an iMac, MacBook, iPod Touch, iPhone or iPad, you can thank the late Steve Jobs. But your gratitude should also be extended to another technology giant who passed away last Saturday.

Book Review: Violence, a la the Freudian and Biblical canon

July 28, 2011
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Short Fuse thinks Russell Jacoby’s “Bloodlust: On the Roots of Violence from Cain and Abel to the Present” is an unconvincing mix of refurbished Freudianism and Genesis.

Book Commentary: A Thousand Words for Paul West

June 19, 2011
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Paul West’s goal is to expand consciousness through the uninhibited play of the imagination, to revel in the glory of words, not to preach lessons in civic do-gooding. And that anarchistic intensity has gotten him into trouble with those who mistakenly believe that exploring the mind of evil indicates approval.

Arts Commentary: Can Criticism Be Too Positive Too Often?

June 9, 2011
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How much do you really know about a critic if all you have on record is what he or she likes and why? At some point staying mum about the negative looks less like tenderhearted support or good manners and more like cowardice or a lack of seriousness. By Bill Marx The news that veteran,…

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