Harmonic Experience

What Hacker News says

1. tshaddoxOct 2025
   I first became aware of this concept many years on Gary Garrett's blog, where he primarily refers to it as "the lattice." His introduction to the concept gives a brief history:

   https://www.garygarrett.me/?p=342

   More introduction to the lattice:

   https://www.garygarrett.me/?p=995

   https://www.garygarrett.me/?p=1632

   https://www.garygarrett.me/?p=1696

   Some comparison audio between equal temperament and just intonation:

   https://www.garygarrett.me/?p=1812

   Some songs with lattice animations:

   https://www.garygarrett.me/?p=103

   https://www.garygarrett.me/?p=1253

   I also like this book which Gary recommends, although it's very challenging and I never made it all the way through:

   https://www.amazon.com/Harmonic-Experience-Harmony-Natural-E...

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2. giraffe_ladyApr 2023
   Mathieu's Harmonic Experience. Definitive book on reconciling just & equal temperament and how to develop embodied understanding of the relationships between notes.
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3. whycombsFeb 2022
   Sorry, a lot of this is wrong. A major 7th is not 17:9 but 15:8. Our ear tries to represent all these rich resonances in as simple primes as possible (Think, combos of 2's 3's and 5's - and occasionally 7's in blue notes).

   A minor 6th isn't just a note in between, but a simple 4:5, The minor sound that we associate with sadness is simply the reciprocal nature of the ratio - the more complicated prime is in the denominator (as opposed to the overtonal nature of the M7 above)

   Short answer: read Harmonic Experience by W.A. Mathieu

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4. chubotJan 2020
   I remember getting Semiology of Graphics from the Palo Alto library around 2006. At the time it was sort of legendary and out of print, but it looks like it's since been reprinted. I think you can get most of the ideas from newer books, but it's well done and clearly ahead of its time.

   https://www.amazon.com/Semiology-Graphics-Diagrams-Networks-...

   https://medium.com/@karlsluis/before-tufte-there-was-bertin-...

   Interestingly another relatively unknown book I like (and bought/read 20 years ago) is also about harmony:

   https://www.amazon.com/Harmonic-Experience-Harmony-Natural-E...

   I would say there's two kinds of harmony: harmony in equal temperament, and "alternative" harmonies based on physics, and this is about the latter. I can't tell from the link what the other harmony book is about. What's good about it?

   As far as computer books, I've read a lot of recommendations here over the years like "thinking forth", "Computer Lib" by Ted Nelson, etc. They are well known to some audiences but not others.

   ----

   I also enjoy reading what people though the computing future would be like. I have "Superdistribution" by Brad Cox:

   https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21833331

   And "Mirror Worlds" by Gelertner:

   https://www.amazon.com/Mirror-Worlds-Software-Universe-Shoeb...

   I'm pretty sure Gelertner claims that the Facebook feed is identical to his "life streams". I guess taken literally it's hard not to see the current Internet as a "mirror world" that's becoming the real world.

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5. elihuMar 2018
   Perhaps Harmonic Experience by W.A. Mathieu.
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6. hypertextheroDec 2017
   Yes. See Harmonic Experience: Tonal Harmony from Its Natural Origins to Its Modern Expression by W.A. Mathieu

   https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/114365.Harmonic_Experien...

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