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A Beginner's Guide to Constructing the Universe
 
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A Beginner's Guide to Constructing the Universe [Paperback]

Michael S. Schneider (Author)
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
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Product details

  • Paperback: 384 pages
  • Publisher: Avon Books (12 Nov 2003)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0060926716
  • ISBN-13: 978-0060926717
  • Product Dimensions: 23.7 x 18.7 x 2.7 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 73,388 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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More About the Author

Michael S. Schneider
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Product Description

Product Description

The Universe May Be a Mystery,
But It's No Secret

Michael Schneider leads us on a spectacular, lavishly illustrated journey along the numbers one through ten to explore the mathematical principles made visible in flowers, shells, crystals, plants, and the human body, expressed in the symbolic language of folk sayings and fairy tales, myth and religion, art and architecture. This is a new view of mathematics, not the one we learned at school but a comprehensive guide to the patterns that recur through the universe and underlie human affairs. A Beginner's Guide to Constructing, the Universe shows you:

  • Why cans, pizza, and manhole covers are round.

  • Why one and two weren't considered numbers by the ancient Greeks.

  • Why squares show up so often in goddess art and board games.

  • What property makes the spiral the most widespread shape in nature, from embryos and hair curls to hurricanes and galaxies.

  • How the human body shares the design of a bean plant and the solar system.

  • How a snowflake is like Stonehenge, and a beehive like a calendar.

  • How our ten fingers hold the secrets of both a lobster and a cathedral.

  • And much more.

    • About the Author


    Michael S. Schneider is an educator developing new perceptions of nature, science, art, and mathematics, holding workshops for teachers, artists, architects, and children concerning nature's numerical language. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics from the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn and a Master's Degree in Math Education from the University of Florida. He was a Fulbright-Hayes Scholar in India and taught in public schools for eleven years. An education writer and computer consultant, he designed the geometry harmonizing the statues at the entrance to the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City, where he lives.

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    Customer Reviews

    8 Reviews
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    Average Customer Review
    4.5 out of 5 stars (8 customer reviews)
     
     
     
     
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    58 of 58 people found the following review helpful:
    5.0 out of 5 stars Sensational!, 14 Sep 2000
    By 
    Sulis (South west England) - See all my reviews
    This review is from: A Beginner's Guide to Constructing the Universe (Paperback)
    Once every few years you come across a book which is genuinely life-changing, and this is one of them. In its simplest form it's a book which makes numbers interesting - completely different from the usual dull stuff you did at school. But it goes way beyond that, to open up a whole world of cosmic geometry which you'd never noticed before. It explains the principles of number and sacred geometry with extraordinary clarity and applies them to architecture, religion, ancient art, modern design, science, the natural world, etc, on the basis that all forms of construction and creation work on those same principles. It covers everything, from the reason why manhole covers are round to the divine emanations of the Qabalah, and links the physical with the spiritual in ways you would never have thought of. The book has a wide format and very clear layout, with lots of illustrations, and assumes no previous knowledge of - or interest in - the subject.

    I notice in Mr Schneider's comments that it took him 20 years to research the book. Well, it certainly shows, and I can assure him it was very well worth it. This is truly a revelation, an amazing book which will completely change the way you look at the world.

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    35 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
    5.0 out of 5 stars Very accessible "sacred geometry" book!, 10 Dec 1995
    By A Customer
    This review is from: A Beginner's Guide to Constructing the Universe (Paperback)
    I'm quite biased because I'm the author. Just thought I'd mention that it took over 20 years of research and 2 years to write & illustrate (500 illus!), plus hundreds of relevant quotations in the side margins. The numbers 1-10 (&12) are the key to the code of nature's designs, and are the basis of an ancient symbolic language used to design the arts, crafts & architecture worldwide. Each of 10 chapters looks at that number & its related shapes, as they appear in nature's beautiful forms, in art, in symbolism, and as archetypes of our own spiritual nature. Shapes are the characters of the alphabet in which the Book of Nature is written, and this is a "math" book with no math (the kind of cold "math" we were shown in school, anyway). Some people call it "sacred geometry". This book will save you years of research, and show you how to appreciate the shapes of nature as a symbolic language familiar to our deepest self. Every shape has a "meaning" and this book shows you what they are. Reviews (Parabola Journal Winter 95, New Age Journal 8/95, etc, all remark how "accessible" it is. I hope you enjoy it. If you read it, write me, if you like. Happy Trails! Michael S. Schneider NYC
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    31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
    5.0 out of 5 stars An Esoteric Feast, 30 Aug 2002
    By A Customer
    This review is from: A Beginner's Guide to Constructing the Universe (Paperback)
    The title is grandiose, the book's layout makes you travel sick when you read it, Michael's brain is clearly on over drive. I loved every line, enjoyed every quote, was intrigued by all the images. It helped me unify many thoughts I had in this field. He has presented sacred geometry in a non-pretentious and easy-to-understand way. He will stimulate you to look further in the subject and you will surely start to see the world in a different way. Why can I not find any other books by this man?
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