Ahab's Arithmetic: the Mathematics of Moby-Dick (2021)

“True art thou, lad, as the circumference to its centre:

         MOBY DICK

           OR

         THE WHALE

           OR   

        $556.37*

Herman Mellville's lifetime earnings from it were a grand total of $556.37.

The article was interesting, but it convinced me of the opposite of its thesis. The books mentioned are 1) a standard school textbook, 2) a standard book for navigators, and 3) a chart of whale hunting grounds that someone created (that Melville anticipated). It all seems like the kind of books a ship's captain would own.

Still, it was interesting to read about the things themselves. I had no idea that the US Navy put out a mathematics reference book. (It's easy to find online, too. The most recent edition came out in 2021.)