Life's a Banquet

I learned of this book from a friend of mine when we were planning a workshop we delivered in June. I obviously had to get it with a master’s degree in mathematics. I was curious how the author would weave human flourishing and mathematics together. It was particularly timely because I was in the process of writing a book chapter on human flourishing in the role of delivering assessments. 

Francis Su immediately introduces the readers to a pen pal correspondent, Christopher Jackson. Christopher is in prison for armed robbery and won’t be released until 2033 at the earliest. What’s fascinating about Christopher is that he could run circles around most in his knowledge of advanced subjects in mathematics. 

For too long, Francis contends we have left math to the whiz kids who can solve problems quickly. For many of us, math is either irrelevant or a memory of shame. He contends we are all mathematicians, and all teachers of math and invites us to read ourselves, others, and the practice of mathematics differently. 

Francis makes the argument that mathematics fosters human flourishing. We flourish as we develop certain virtues, and our pursuit of virtues is aroused by basic desires or longings. Longings like that of exploration, such as how to explain the gaps in the rings of Saturn. Or the longing for meaning, such as the stories we may use to make sense of the Pythagorean theorem. There is play, particularly as we explore the interesting patterns we find in math, engaging in inductive inquiry, and deductive reasoning to explain what we find. We come up with heuristics and try to figure out why they work. As people, we long for beauty and discover it in the fractals.  

As one review write, “Math cultivates virtue as we struggle. Real creativity in math involves struggle, the failed solutions that lead to a novel way of seeing the problem that yields the solution. Math’s power may be coercive or creative. The creative use of power multiplies math’s power in the lives of others rather than showing oneself to be powerful. Math can be used to include or exclude and may be a source of either justice or injustice. Math can be a source of freedom–particularly if it is coupled with justice and extend welcome to all. When this happens, mathematics creates good communities, not ones that exclude those who don’t “measure up.” Math sees everyone as capable of discovery in math. Suddenly, you have a group of people engaged in joyous discovery.” 

When you read this book, I suspect you will agree that Francis is the math teacher I actually had when I undertook my journey for my master’s degree. He reminded me of my algebra and trigonometry instructor at UNO who made math fun. Even more interesting, the letters with Christopher he shared the puzzles he posed to him spark an interest in digging out the old math books and brushing up on topics I haven’t reviewed in 20 years. 

Francis does us a valuable service in awakening readers to the ways we flourish through math, motivating readers to share with others the abundance inspired through the exploration of mathematics. This book was so insightful for me, bringing home what I knew to be the beauty of mathematics, but also in guiding me as I wrote a book chapter on another topic others may find challenging – assessment!