Two books in one

Heinlein's The Cat Who Walks Through Walls

I didn't like it. After 100 pages I quit. The characterization is nonexistent.

Jerry King's The Art of Mathematics

Really great, thought-provoking book. I'm curious about this idea of math and art being related.

How do I learn about art and music criticism? *pulls hair*

He discusses art's audience, going back to a 1912 work by Bullough titled "Psychical Distance as a Factor in Art and an Aesthetic Principle." Bullough asserts that those who are psychologically too close to an artwork are unable to appreciate it; instead, they link it to themselves and fail to see it from an aesthetic point of view. He also asserts that there are those who are too psychologically far from the artwork and are unable to understand it from an aesthetic point of view. He goes as far as saying that the only people who can understand anything from an aesthetic point of view are the true artists themselves. An odd idea on the whole.

He also discusses how the ivory tower, elitist math departments are bad for the growth of their subject. He longs for the day when math will become an integrated part of a liberal arts education. I'm frankly so fed up with the "publish or perish" idea, and so are most professors, I am sure. It's a sad state when our universities are more focused on research than on actually teaching.