Blueprints

An award-winning mathematician and Oxford professor looks to the arts to uncover the key mathematical structures that underpin both nature and human creativity.

Many of the artists that we encounter are completely unaware of the mathematics that bubble beneath their craft, while some consciously use it for inspiration. Our instincts might tell us that these two subjects are incompatible forces with nothing in common – mathematics being the realm of precise logic and art being the realm of emotion and aesthetics – but what if we’re wrong?

Blueprints asks us to consider that mathematics and art may not be polar opposites after all. Their complementary relationship spans a vast historical and geographic landscape, from the earliest stone circles to Mozart’s obsession with numbers and the radically modern architecture of Zaha Hadid. Whether we are searching for meaning in an abstract painting or finding patterns in poetry, there are blueprints everywhere: symmetry, prime numbers, the golden ratio and more.

In this bold and philosophical exploration of human creativity, Marcus du Sautoy unpacks how we make art, why a creative mindset is vital for discovering new mathematics, and how a fundamental connection to the natural world intrinsically links these two subjects.

Reviews

Praise for Marcus du Sautoy:

'Brilliantly clear and captivating prose' Stephen Fry

‘Du Sautoy is […] the light-bearer, illuminating not only the work of coders and creators, but the mathematics of chaos that underpin art and our emotional responses to it’ Hans Ulrich Obrist

'He brings hugely enjoyable writing, full of zest and passion, to the most fundamental questions in the pursuit of true knowledge' Sunday Times

'A brilliant storyteller' Independent

'Du Sautoy is a contagious enthusiast, a populist with a staunch faith in the public's intelligence' Observer

‘Marcus makes it seem so easy, and such fun, to begin to understand that which appears complex, frightening and beautiful, and the magic of being human’ Philippe Sands

About the author

Marcus du Sautoy has been named by the Independent on Sunday as one of the UK's leading scientists, has written extensively for the Guardian, The Times and the Daily Telegraph and has appeared on Radio 4 on numerous occasions. In 2008 he was appointed to Oxford University’s prestigious professorship as the Simonyi Chair for the Public Understanding of Science, a post previously held by Richard Dawkins.