sum of nested list in Python

Question

I try to sum a list of nested elements

e.g, numbers=[1,3,5,6,[7,8]] should produce sum=30

I wrote the following code :

Answer 1

I would sum the flattened list:

def flatten(L):
    '''Flattens nested lists or tuples with non-string items'''
    for item in L:
        try:
            for i in flatten(item):
                yield i
        except TypeError:
            yield item


>>> sum(flatten([1,3,5,6,[7,8]]))
30