# Stella Maris  ## Metadata - Author: [[Cormac McCarthy]] - Full Title: Stella Maris - Category: #books - Summary: insert summary - My notes: - Summary: "Stella Maris" by Cormac McCarthy explores deep questions about belief and the nature of reality through the lens of mathematics. The narrator reflects on the complexities of understanding math and its emotional impact, revealing a personal journey of doubt and insight. Ultimately, it suggests that mathematics is limitless and invites contemplation about the universe. ## LLM Chats ## NotebookLM ## LLM Audio ## Highlights > How do you know you shouldnt? The core question is not how you do math but how does the unconscious do it. How is it that it’s demonstrably better at it than you are? You work on a problem and then you put it away for a while. But it doesnt go away. It reappears at lunch. Or while you’re taking a shower. It says: Take a look at this. What do you think? Then you wonder why the shower is cold. Or the soup. Is this doing math? I’m afraid it is. How is it doing it? We dont know. I’ve posed the question to some pretty good mathematicians. How does the unconscious do math? Some who’d thought about it and some who hadnt. For the most part they seemed to think it unlikely that the unconscious went about it the same way we did. What was surprising to me was the insouciance with which they greeted this news. As if the very nature of mathematics had not just been hauled into the dock. A few thought that if it had a better way of doing mathematics it ought to tell us about it. Well, maybe. Or maybe it thinks we’re not smart enough to understand it. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01kgtmkpy9mj60ehh5tak1kmkv))