Last week I attended Alice in Wonderland (3D version) with my children and father. Despite my reasonable grasp of English, I was left wondering at times if I fully understood the dialogue. Given comments made when I was younger about a link to drugs (the caterpillar and the hookah) and the Mad Hatter being mad because of the glue fumes, I put aside my misgivings but left with many questions.
Further research pointed out that a subplot of the author Lewis Caroll (a mathematician) is a satire on the new forms of mathematics that were coming out at the end of the 19th century. See NPR's The Mad Hatter's Secret Ingredient: Math. A more detailed article on the mathematical issues embedded in the book was issued in New Scientist Alice's adventures in algebra: Wonderland solved through a disseration written by Melanie Bayley.
Interesting to see how some individuals dealt with the changes to the traditional ways of thinking (Euclidean geometry had been around for 2000 years). Even more interesting is the fact that it took more than a century to find many of the allusions in the original text given that the text is very popular.
For those who would like to listen to Alice in Wonderland in Audio format, I found this wonderful site that provides books in mp3 (IPod and ITune ready).
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