As a high school English teacher, I taught Homer’s Odyssey every year. I loved it. Like song lyrics, which they were, Homer’s lines were best when read aloud. Without fail,…

Take all three books in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Count every single word. Next, filter by the names of the Fellowship members: Aragorn, Boromir, Frodo, Gandalf, Gimli, Legolas,…

I’m on a bit of a Harry Potter trip at the moment. For this project, I explored spells in the book series. To identify the top spells, I referred to…

I am in the home stretch of reading the final volume of the Harry Potter book series with my son. We have loved reading (or listening) to the books over…

If we’ve worked together you know I like me a visual. There are simply things that are better conveyed via spatial modes of communication than sequential modes (like writing). You…

We can use numbers to better understand literature. That’s right: there are fruitful ways for readers to deepen their analysis of books that are computational and quantitative. Doing so can…

Nothing says nerd like desperately downloading a new BBC show about algorithms to one’s phone just before the subway goes into a prolonged stretch with no cell service. But that’s…

The main character in Hell of a Book by Jason Mott, an unnamed famous writer whom I refer to as The Author, is as uncommitted to moral principles as he…

With its wildly popular miniseries now out, Sally Rooney’s novel Conversations with Friends is attracting hoards of new readers. The book tells the story of Frances as she uncovers what…

It’s that time of year again when the Ides of March are upon us once again. Dusting off my copy of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, I was eager to do a…

Keyboards are literally where human beings communicate with computers. Considering how ubiquitous they are, it is odd that many of us don’t know why keyboards are so chaotically arranged. Well,…

I’ll keep this quick: This interactive visualization about lyrics from the musical Hamilton is off the chain. The genius behind it, Shirley Wu, explains her dive into language and quantification…

This season, I offer a range of books from young adult literature requested by ELA teachers in Colorado to an opaque classic epic poem to books I read as part…

For all you number lovers out there, check out this fantastic interactive article that lets readers create their own digital heart using algebra. Here’s a sample: Like many geometric figures,…

For years now, I have occasionally seen 19th century data visualizations attributed to W.E.B. Du Bois. Always struck by them for their content (data about “the African diaspora in America“)…

A few years ago, on a visit to the Tolkien exhibit at the Morgan Library and Museum, I was fascinated to see process documents related to Lord of the Rings…

Here on Plotting Plots, I try to make the case that computationality and the humanities go hand in hand. Not just for literature, but in music too. While watching the…

First-time readers of Paradise Lost are often surprised by how relatable Milton’s Satan is. Seriously, it is jarring to realize how vehemently one can find oneself nodding along in agreement–with…

BardBots is a project in which students are introduced to key concepts in computational thinking via an unlikely combination: Shakespeare and robots.  I believe that the distance between the humanities,…

Edgar Allan Poe is a mainstay of American literary culture, particularly in classrooms and book clubs as Halloween nears. (The seeming infinite appeal of The Simpsons tribute episode helps as…