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Mathematics

Marcus du Sautoy's new book is good on maths, less so on the arts

The mathematician is out to show the close link between maths and the arts. This idea isn't new, and while Blueprints is lyrical on maths, it falls a bit flat when it comes to covering artists

By Christie Taylor

7 May 2025

DYK07P Colourful Balconies Painted in Primary Colours of the Cite Radieuse or Unite d'Habitation by Le Corbusier Marseille or Marseilles France

Le Corbusier used Fibonacci sequences in his building designs, like this one in Marseille, France

Chris Hellier/Alamy

Blueprints
Marcus du Sautoy (Fourth Estate (UK, out now); Basic Books (US, 16 September))

Marcus Du Sautoy  wants us to see mathematics and art as inextricably connected. “Both are creating ways to interpret, understand, and navigate our place in the universe,” he begins his new book, Blueprints: How mathematics shapes creativity.

I’m not sure who still doubts this, nearly a century after Albert Einstein and his violin; this book feels a little redundant in a time of ample high-profile collaborations between du Sautoy’s “two cultures” of emotions and…

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