Terrific essay on Open Culture “Physicist and saxophonist Stephon Alexander has argued in his many public lectures and his book The Jazz of Physics that Albert Einstein and John Coltrane had quite a lot in common. Alexander in particular draws our attention to the so-called “Coltrane circle,” which resembles what any musician will recognize as the “Circle of … Continue reading John Coltrane Draws a Picture Illustrating the Mathematics of Music →

Everyone has a different mental model in their head of what things look like, from chairs to monkeys. This delightful site shows them off. From 50 Million Drawings: “Over 15 million players have contributed millions of drawings playing Quick, Draw!These doodles are a unique data set that can help developers train new neural networks, help researchers … Continue reading 50 million drawings →

In 1858 nurse, statistician, and reformer Florence Nightingale published Notes on Matters Affecting the Health, Efficiency, and Hospital Administration of the British Army. Founded Chiefly on the Experience of the Late War. Presented by Request to the Secretary of State for War. This privately printed work contained a color statistical graphic entitled “Diagram of the Causes of Mortality in … Continue reading Nightengale Rose Diagram →

Some images people share with me are so complex beautiful, but had to be smallified and made B&W for the book. I want to share them in their full glory. Here is Stone Librande’s Sketch and design blown up and gorgeous!

I wanted to keep the book tiny, so people could carry it around, and Black and White, so it’d be affordable. But this means some images and ideas I couldn’t cover! So I’ll share them here. Here is Taylor Reese whiteboarding how to whiteboard!   And the original photo of him working…. And more whiteboard … Continue reading Outtakes! Taylor Reese on Whiteboarding. →