2007-12-23 Patterns, proportions, measuremtns and harmonics

This book is about recognizing very basic patterns in nature (anatomy of humans and animals, plants, rocks, shells, etc.), universe,arts, crafts, architecture, music,writing, rhythm in poetry.Diverse cultures are covered.The preview of this book can give you quite a good idea how its looks like and how its logic is developed.This is not a book on composition, dealing with design principles teaching how to balance your composition using those principles, if you are in creative profession.

This book is not dealing as much in depth with composition from the view point of art history, although touches it, but it takes a wider, more holistic approach.(You will not find for ex. the analisis how triangles and diagonal lines were applied in composition in order to create harmony in paintings).Historical references range from neolithic times, through antiquity, Renaissance.For ex. the author deals with such universal symbol as pentagram, but not as much from the view point of iconography: it is more about harmonics in a more Pythagorean way, and it is mentioned that this symbol is meanignfull still today , which allows the pentagram to be classified among Jungian archetypes. Or the author touches sightly on the view of unity and harmony laws among Maoris (mana and tapu), American Indians,Minoan art and architecture expressed in its spiral patterns (mother earth symbols, mother and child, symbols of re-emergence, labyrinth). You get the idea.

I think this book can be of great interest to many people who are interested in patterns and proportions: mathematicians, specially if you are into fractal geometry, artists, art historians, architects, craft people, musicians, dancers, scientists, or if you have deeper interest in those areas.The book is loaded with illustrations, diagrams, and photos (black and white). I highly recommend this book. (Specially if you liked Goedel, Escher, Bach:an Eternal Golden Braid, and forgive me the alterantive spelling in Goedel's name, can't find umlaut on my keyboard.