What do Wisconsin gerrymandering, the 1904 St. Louis Exposition, the migratory patterns of ants and the debate over whether a straw has two holes or one have in common?
They have all occupied Jordan Ellenberg’s brain at some time, and they all make appearances in his new book, “Shape,” which comes out May 25 and is available for pre-order. Ellenberg, a mathematics professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, even drew a convoluted flow chart that appears at the front of the book connecting all of the book’s disparate topics. It was his homage to the intricate maps that often appear at the front of epic fantasy novels.