Reconstruction method
This is a bibliographic and methodological reconstruction, not a reproduction of McMullen’s papers, books, programs, notes, or unpublished materials. The source spine follows his public Harvard pages, official publication list, vita, book-level works, and course-note families. Strategy tags overlap: percentages are method-frequency indicators, not a probability distribution.
Core thesis
McMullen’s method repeatedly converts a difficult object into the neighboring geometry where its invariant is measurable: an algorithm becomes a rational map, a surface map becomes a hyperbolic 3-manifold, a billiard becomes a translation surface, and entropy becomes a spectral or arithmetic datum.
Deep reading unit
Each case is read as a pipeline: object → correct language → deformation or flow → invariant → table/example → cross-domain transfer → rigidity, classification, construction, or universality statement.
Why this style
The Conway/Galileo/Knuth/Connes template makes method visible: cards expose strategy; formulas expose compression; ranking exposes prevalence; corpus rows expose evidence; demonstrations expose how to apply the method.
The McMullen strategy engine
Overlapping prevalence ranking
Bars show count divided by 300 cases. Since a case carries multiple strategy tags, the displayed prevalence is a method-frequency map rather than a probability distribution.
Decision tree for reading McMullen as method
300-case corpus
| # | Case | Family | Deep reading move | Strategies |
|---|