A historical novel set in Washington DC of the late 19th century in which
astronomers and the Naval Observatory (aided by the "computer" Cynthia May)
deal with scientific and political matters of the day. May is the
"mathematician" character in the novel, and her interest in mathematics is
colorfully drawn. For instance:
| (quoted from Two Moons)
Her columns grew longer, and if she squinted at them, the confetti of
inklings began to resemble a skyful of stars. She had time to let her mind
wander. The Magi's search for Bethlehem; the music of Milton's crystal
spheres; the prognostications of the D Street astrologer in whose parlor
Cynthia had lately spent a dollar she could not afford: they could all be
reduced to these numbers. There was actually no need to squint and pretend
that the digits were the stars. They were, by themselves, wildly alive,
fact and symbol of the vast, cool distances in which one located the light
of different worlds.
|
However, many readers have found this book to be either boring or dry. (The
good news, I suppose, is that you can consequently get it really cheaply.) |
