--Sue Macy
I have a confession to make. I don't belong here. I wanted to write a nonfiction book, honest, but something got the better of me: a divine being more powerful than us all.
In 1996, I was floundering with a manuscript on the life of the medieval mathematician Leonardo of Pisa, better known as Fibonacci. Leonardo helped convert Europe from I-II-III to 1-2-3, and bequeathed to us the world's most important nonentity: zero. Without it, we'd have no concept of place value. He is best known for a problem about multiplying rabbits, and the number pattern derived from it called the Fibonacci Sequence.
My dilemma was two-fold: First, Leonardo never knew that Fibonacci numbers recur in nature. Either I wrote about Fibonacci or I wrote about the Sequence. I had trouble unifying the two because it didn't happen that way.
Second, facts on Leonardo's life are sparce: He grew up in Pisa, sailed to Algeria to keep his merchant father's accounts, and later traveled the world studying mathematics. A few of his math tomes have survived, but they tell us little of his internal life. To write a picture book about him, one ought to know what made him tick.
What, I wondered, drives a person to chase numbers across the seas?
I was intrigued by Leonardo's Latin nickname, Bigollus. A funny name could make a good book title, but I couldn't find an authoritative translation. The Fibonacci Association offered an expert. I dreaded making that call. I'm not a mathematician. Indeed, who was I to write such a book?
Herta Taussig Freitag, a professor emeritus of mathematics, took the call in Virginia. She had a thick German accent, and proved to be a delightful, friendly, patient person who was tickled to be speaking with a (then) editor of a math magazine for children. She had wanted to be a teacher of mathematics since age 12. We had a long chat, and she reassured me that no one was satisfied with the translation of Fibonacci's nickname. It could mean "wanderer," "daydreamer," or
5 Comments on The Birth of a Blockhead, last added: 3/7/2010
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What a great post! Who says that the real world isn't at least as fascinating as fiction! The scope of Fibonacci numbers in nature is breathtaking. Nature invented the sequence but only us humans can perceive it and see its beauty. Romance is truly alive in math.
Thank you, Joe, and thanks to Sue for bringing this to us.
To me, this piece demonstrates how wide and deep the creative process is. Thanks Joe, for your essay and your book.
I enjoyed reading this story of your path to publication with Blockhead. It's long gestation period makes it seem an even unliklier coincidence that Fibonacci would be the subject of two nonfiction March 2010 releases. I look forward to reading Blockhead!
I can't wait to read your book, but I really loved this post, too. You're such a good storyteller, and the layers in this tale are intriguing. Thanks for guesting! Please come again! And good luck with your cool book.
Bravo to you, Joe, for hanging in there! I hear it's a great book! I, too, have a book about a mathematician in the works--Paul Erdos... It, too, is taking a while, and there's an older female mathematician I am praying will still be around to hold the book in her hands. Meanwhile, I think I will have to send her yours...which I have can't wait to read. Bravo to you and Blockhead!