Didn’t this fit together neatly? (with audio, yet)

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• Sunday 7th November 2010

So I was sitting at the dining room table the other day, reading Malcom Gladwell’s essay on plagiarism. That brought to mind Jonathan Lethem’s essay “The Ecstasy Of Influence.” A day or two later, I remembered the immensely clever, hilarious song satirizing plagiarism in the world of mathematical research; written and sung by Tom Lehrer, it’s titled after the famous (non-plagiarizing) Russian mathematician Lobachevsky.

The essays are excellent, and the song is a pisser. If you don’t know Lehrer’s work, this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Tom Lehrer sings “Lobachevsky”

If you’re the copyright holder and this doesn’t up, just let me know and I’ll take it down (plagiaristically speaking).