A Romance in Lower Mathematics.

May 20, 2006 11:58 PM

The Dot and the Line. (by Norman Juster) Read the book. Watch the movie.
posted by jrb223 (20 comments total)

I had this book as a kid! Ah, memories.
posted by Grod at 12:15 AM on May 21, 2006

Norton! Norton! Not Norman. And I finally get to watch the movie - great link, thanks. The original book bent my brain severely as a child. I never quite recovered, and ended up doing graph theory related work in adulthood.
posted by foozleface at 12:35 AM on May 21, 2006

Damn. Indeed Norton. Norton Juster! *really embarrassed*
posted by jrb223 at 1:05 AM on May 21, 2006

To the vector belong the spoils!
posted by Vindaloo at 1:29 AM on May 21, 2006

thanks for the post :)
posted by ruelle at 1:30 AM on May 21, 2006

[this is wonderful]
posted by secret about box at 2:07 AM on May 21, 2006

Thanks for posting this!

I never thought that fickle dot was worthy of the line.
posted by amarynth at 6:10 AM on May 21, 2006

They used to show us this probably on a yearly basis in school, and I loved it, and have thought about it ever since.

It could be the 2000 election in a nutshell, except for the 49% that just didn't fucking get it.
posted by Flashman at 7:18 AM on May 21, 2006

The Dot and the Line. (by Norman Juster) Read the book. Watch the movie.

I have no idea what the first statement means. It's not even a sentence. As far as the other 2, read what book, watch what movie? So I'm supposed to click on the links (or comments) to find out out? How thoughtless.
posted by sluglicker at 8:12 AM on May 21, 2006

Yes! What everyone else said! I, too, had this book as a kid and never knew there was a movie. AWESOME.
posted by needs more cowbell at 8:14 AM on May 21, 2006

I saw the movie as a kid and never knew there was a book (until later).

Phantom Tollbooth was one of my favorite childhood books. It taught me rigamarole, a word a use daily now that I work in a bureaucracy.
posted by dw at 8:20 AM on May 21, 2006

I read the book to my Geometry students each Valentine's Day, but I'd never seen the movie before. Thanks.
posted by baho at 8:23 AM on May 21, 2006

I have the distinct impression I've seen this before, but I can't remember where or when. In any case, thanks for sharing it!
posted by Alterscape at 8:36 AM on May 21, 2006

I've always liked that cartoon, the fact that the esteemed Chuck Jones directed it makes it more enjoyable
posted by edgeways at 11:05 AM on May 21, 2006

Wonderful film -- but this is a wretched way to see it. A horrible capture from the cartoon network at a piffling bitrate with persistent branding in the lower right and nasty, muddy sound.

If you want to see it properly you may be able to rent the DVD of The Glass Bottom Boat which reportedly has it as an extra.
posted by George_Spiggott at 11:20 AM on May 21, 2006

I love this cartoon and I've been wanting to see it for a while. It won an Oscar in 1966.
posted by Alison at 1:25 PM on May 21, 2006

I have no idea what the first statement means. It's not even a sentence. As far as the other 2, read what book, watch what movie? So I'm supposed to click on the links (or comments) to find out out? How thoughtless.

Lighten up, Francis.
posted by Scoo at 5:14 PM on May 21, 2006

...for any way he looked at her, she was perfect: 36 x 36 x 36.

And so is this great cartoon. I hope Chuck is still running amuck somewhere...
posted by cenoxo at 6:55 PM on May 21, 2006

I didn't even know this was a book until reading this post, but I loved this movie as a kid. Nice to see it again!
posted by rfbjames at 12:49 AM on May 23, 2006

I've always really enjoyed the Dot and Line book and movie. What a treat to see them online. I love it when math concepts are made human for people like myself who are math challenged and need to see concepts made into narratives or more three dimensionally. There are kissing numbers and love triangles.
posted by nickyskye at 1:48 PM on May 23, 2006