Local author and teacher Erik Richardson has released a new chapbook of poetry designed around the idea that mathematics is fun.

“The Tao of Numbers” is Richardson’s second book of poetry and is influenced by the great Eastern philosopher Lao Ttz and his style of writing and takes concepts and turns them into philosophical thoughts about math. Richardson leaned on his background as a math teacher for inspiration.

“What if instead of thinking about things like war and human suffering we thought about the way we teach?” Richardson said. “What if I took that same spirit and in this case what if we stopped being freaked out about grades and thought about why math is fun?”

Richardson takes Ttz’s approach to thinking about things that affect humans such as war or other complex issues and talks about math in the same way. Richardson wants to take a subject not normally associated with fun and infuse it.

“So much of our education is treating math like it’s broccoli or lima beans, the vegetable on the plate,” Richardson said. “It’s not. It’s the ice cream.”

Richardson said math is like a recipe book and we’re taught to learn the recipes and apply where appropriate. Richardson believes there’s a better way of looking at it.

“Part of the reason people think math is broccoli and lima beans is because that’s the only version that they’ve seen,” Richardson said. “Show them some of its ice cream but also show them it’s pretty cool.”

Richardson said we also need to get out of the mindset that things we’re not good at are not fun. Richardson looks at himself as a perfect example. He’s taught math but doesn’t consider himself “good” at it in comparison to other things.

“You can love math and be horrible at it,” Richardson said. 

Richardson said he was also inspired by American poet Walt Whitman and his ability to take a narrative and wrap it around a range of human experiences. Richardson’s first chapbook was a collection of work he had previously published but not focused on anything in particular.

“There was an opportunity to do something much more than a random collection of pieces,” Richardson said.

Richardson said he approached the writings in a way that he could not only speak to readers but engage them. He said it allows the reader to become “involved” in the story.

“You can’t just push information at people,” Richardson said. “If you’re not engaging them and creating opportunities for them to buy in the story never comes to life.”

Richardson’s teaching background not only shaped the subject he wrote about but also how the poetry would connect with the readers. Richardson’s main target audience is young people.

“It’s still about teaching for me,” Richardson said. “It’s still about helping them find the thing that lights up and gets them engaged and creates an opportunity for them to have a story.”

Richardson also loves the challenge poetry presents in storytelling and this is one of the many reasons he chose the format.

“Poetry to me is a creative adventure with wordplay but it’s a lot about how to tell a real short story,” Richardson said. “How can you reduce that down to that minimalist form and still capture the fact that it’s complex.”

Richardson’s book can be found at kelsaybooks.com or Amazon.