Read the excerpt from "Death by Black Hole." Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity, published in 1916, provides the insight to understand the bizarre structure of space and time in a high-gravity environment. Later research by the American physicist John A. Wheeler, and others, helped to formulate a vocabulary as well as the mathematical tools to describe and predict what a black hole will do to its surroundings. Read the excerpt from "Man Listening to Disc." And I bow deeply to Thelonious Monk for figuring out a way to motorize—or whatever—his huge piano so he could be with us today. These excerpts are similar because both texts show a connection between math and music. Reference musicians the narrators admire. Make predictions about the future of mankind. Credit people who have inspired the authors.