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.