In this profound and hopeful book, a mathematician and celebrated
teacher shows how mathematics may help all of us-even the math-averse-to
understand and cope with grief.
We all know the euphoria of intellectual epiphany-the thrill of sudden
understanding. But coupled with that excitement is a sense of loss: a
moment of epiphany can never be repeated. In Geometry of Grief,
mathematician Michael Frame draws on a career's worth of
insight-including his work with a pioneer of fractal geometry Benoit
Mandelbrot-and a gift for rendering the complex accessible as he delves
into this twinning of understanding and loss. Grief, Frame reveals, can
be a moment of possibility.
Frame investigates grief as a response to an irrevocable change in
circumstance. This reframing allows us to see parallels between the loss
of a loved one or a career and the loss of the elation of first
understanding a tricky concept. From this foundation, Frame builds a
geometric model of mental states. An object that is fractal, for
example, has symmetry of magnification: magnify a picture of a mountain
or a fern leaf-both fractal-and we see echoes of the original shape.
Similarly, nested inside great loss are smaller losses. By manipulating
this geometry, Frame shows us, we may be able to redirect our thinking
in ways that help reduce our pain. Small‐scale losses, in essence,
provide laboratories to learn how to meet large-scale losses.
Interweaving original illustrations, clear introductions to advanced
topics in geometry, and wisdom gleaned from his own experience with
illness and others' remarkable responses to devastating loss, Frame's
poetic book is a journey through the beautiful complexities of
mathematics and life. With both human sympathy and geometrical elegance,
it helps us to see how a geometry of grief can open a pathway for bold
action.
