What's the Name of That Book??? discussion

I thought this book was 1,2,3 Infinity, but recently I purchased it and it isn't. It is similar in nature -- a book aimed at a popular audience about science/math. I think this one is more math-focused. The two things I remember that aren't in 1,2,3 Infinity are:
-- A section where the author talks about some scientific formula to discover if things are beautiful. He mentions the poem "Kubla Khan" as the "official" most beautiful poem. He also discusses which shape is most beautiful (I don't remember but it may have been the circle) and maybe even which individual word. There may have been some tongue-in-cheek here.
-- A section where the author talks about gematria. He was discussing it with two coworkers (co-authors on another project, perhaps) and they expressed skepticism at how it could work. So he made some stuff up right there and then about how their names were meaningful, and the example I remember is how Warren Weaver's name meant that he would be naturally good at knitting war-related activities together. This made sense because of whatever project they were working on, which was war-related, and Weaver was the boss.

There was a request a while back for a book similar to 1, 2, 3 Infinity.
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Maybe your book was suggested.

Also, how many years ago did you read this book? Remember anything about the cover?

I read the book in the early 80's, let's say 1985 at the latest.

The thing is that I will probably not recognize it from the title/cover, since I always thought it was 1,2,3 Infinity. I'll look through the other topic though. Thanks.

bump

Warren Weaver did write a book (at least one): https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

Thanks. I took a look at it but I don't think it's my book. The things I remembered didn't have to do with statistics & probability. Also I don't think Warren Weaver was the author of my book -- I believe the author talked about him in the third person. And I read some of _Lady Luck_ on Google Books, and it doesn't seem familiar (although it looks interesting).

A couple of authors who write about math in the style you describe are William Poundstone and Ian Stewart

Something by Martin Gardner?

time to bump. I looked at the authors above but I didn't find anything that looked right.

another bump

bump

I did some research and Birkhoff is the guy who came up with the mathematical formula for beauty. I'm sure it's him because he measured both poems and shapes. However, my book wouldn't be by Birkhoff, but it would just mention him in passing.

It's been a while so bump

bump

I finally found the right combo of google keywords and found this book! It is Main Stream of Mathematics by Edna E. Kramer