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A new home for Interesting Esoterica

By Christian Lawson-Perfect. Posted May 25, 2016



Since 2010, I’ve been maintaining a list of “interesting esoterica” – papers, books, essays and poems that I find interesting entirely on their own merits. It’s mainly bits of esoteric maths – hence the name – but I’ve also included quite a few things just because they have amusing titles. The main idea is that when I’m talking to someone and want to show them a cool thing that I’ve half-remembered, I can look up the exact reference: I’ve shared the paper “Orange peels and Fresnel integrals” more times than I can count (probably the same as the number of times I’ve eaten an orange).

Interesting π Esoterica

By Christian Lawson-Perfect. Posted March 14, 2015

My way of celebrating π day is to rummage through my trove of obscure writings and dig up some interesting esoterica on the subject of that constant. Here’s what I found.

In case you’re new to this: every now and then I encounter a paper or a book or an article that grabs my interest but isn’t directly useful for anything. It might be about some niche sub-sub-subtopic I’ve never heard of, or it might talk about something old from a new angle, or it might just have a funny title. I put these things in my Interesting Esoterica collection on Mendeley. And then when I’ve gathered up enough, I collect them here.

Interesting Esoterica Summation, volume 9

By Christian Lawson-Perfect. Posted September 3, 2014

Oof! It’s been nearly a year since I last shared my findings in the field of interesting esoterica. I fear this may be quite a long post.

In case you’re new to this: every now and then I encounter a paper or a book or an article that grabs my interest but isn’t directly useful for anything. It might be about some niche sub-sub-subtopic I’ve never heard of, or it might talk about something old from a new angle, or it might just have a funny title. I put these things in my Interesting Esoterica collection on Mendeley. And then when I’ve gathered up enough, I collect them here.

In this post the titles are links to the original sources, and I try to add some interpretation or explanation of why I think each thing is interesting below the abstract.

Some things might not be freely available, or even available for a reasonable price. Sorry.

Interesting Esoterica Summation, volume 8

By Christian Lawson-Perfect. Posted November 27, 2013

Mathematicians! Stop what you’re doing! I’ve almost certainly got something more interesting for you here. It’s been a good while since I last updated you on the contents of my Interesting Esoterica collection, and I have a proportionate number of mathematical curiosities to entertain and bewilder you with.

In case you’re new to this: every now and then I encounter a paper or a book or an article that grabs my interest but isn’t directly useful for anything. It might be about some niche sub-sub-subtopic I’ve never heard of, or it might talk about something old from a new angle, or it might just have a funny title. I put these things in my Interesting Esoterica collection on Mendeley. And then when I’ve gathered up enough, I collect them here.

In this post the titles are links to the original sources, and I try to add some interpretation or explanation of why I think each thing is interesting below the abstract.

Some things might not be freely available, or even available for a reasonable price. Sorry.

Interesting Esoterica Summation, volume 7

By Christian Lawson-Perfect. Posted June 17, 2013

Do you ever collect too much fun maths stuff to keep to yourself, and then start a website just so you’ve got somewhere to put it? That happens to me sometimes.

In case you’re new to this: every now and then I encounter a paper or a book or an article that grabs my interest but isn’t directly useful for anything. It might be about some niche sub-sub-subtopic I’ve never heard of, or it might talk about something old from a new angle, or it might just have a funny title. I put these things in my Interesting Esoterica collection on Mendeley. And then when I’ve gathered up enough, I collect them here.

In this post the titles are links to the original sources, and I try to add some interpretation or explanation of why I think each thing is interesting below the abstract.

Some things might not be freely available, or even available for a reasonable price. Sorry.

Interesting Esoterica Summation, volume 6

By Christian Lawson-Perfect. Posted March 17, 2013

Cor, it’s been longer than I thought since I last did one of these. I’ve been happily collecting esoterica for months, thinking I didn’t have enough new stuff to do a summation. It turns out I’ve got 22 new things! Better get cracking with the interest and the summing.

In case you’re new to this: every now and then I encounter a paper or a book or an article that grabs my interest but isn’t directly useful for anything. It might be about some niche sub-sub-subtopic I’ve never heard of, or it might talk about something old from a new angle, or it might just have a funny title. I put these things in my Interesting Esoterica collection on Mendeley. And then when I’ve gathered up enough, I collect them here.

In this post the titles are links to the original sources, and I try to add some interpretation or explanation of why I think each thing is interesting below the abstract.

Some things might not be freely available, or even available for a reasonable price. Sorry.

A recreational maths seminar?

By Christian Lawson-Perfect. Posted November 2, 2012

Would you be interested in taking part in a sort of online video-chat seminar about recreational maths? Then read on!