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,…
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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,…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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,…
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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…
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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…
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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,…
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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“)…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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,…
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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…