From Zeno to Mandelbrot: explore this new language with which you can describe the shape of cloud as precisely as an architect can describe a house.
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About the Author
Nigel Lesmoir-Gordon is a producer of television documentaries. Will Rood studied mathematics at Cambridge University. His fractal animations have graced many television documentaries and his artwork has featured on numerous magazines, posters and CD sleeves. Ralph Edney trained as a mathematician, and has worked as a teacher, journalist, illustrator and political cartoonist.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By P. R. Owen
Format:Paperback
This is not going to be long, but it deserves to be mentioned that this little book on fractals is worthy of interfacing with a large number of young mathematicians and physicists who might one day be worthy of carrying on the splendid work of people like Mandelbrot, Barnsley, et al who have brought fractals via computers to the attention of the world. A highly recommended opener which could act as a catalyst for others to take forward the connection between reality and fractality.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By Yossel
Format:Paperback
The passing of Benoit Mandelebrot in October 2010 prompted my renewed interest in Fractals. The mathematics is last year high school/first degree level, and is very readable. However, you do not need to follow all the maths to appreciate the themes covered. Overall, it makes you very much aware of the order underlying the natural world as opposed to man's rather dull Euclidean shapes.
I found the pictures and narrative very helpful, particularly the historic context and the applications of fractals in modern technology. Mandelbot was a great visionary, and this book widens your thought horizon.
I found the pictures and narrative very helpful, particularly the historic context and the applications of fractals in modern technology. Mandelbot was a great visionary, and this book widens your thought horizon.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
What a great intro to fractal theory (for someone like me who needs pictures!). Sadly I still don't understand it, but am enjoying trying.
If anyone knows of a "Fractal Theory for Dummies" book please let me know!
If anyone knows of a "Fractal Theory for Dummies" book please let me know!
7 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I quite like this book, but it doesn't really satisfy my mathematical interest. It's far more for lay-people. But also it has some factual errors, which makes it paradoxically less use for lay people, although they'll probably never know it. E.g., the Cantor set. On page 21 it says "Any point arbitrarily close to the set must actually belong to it". This is technically wrong: the open interval (1/3,2/3) is excluded from the set, and points arbitrarily close to either end of this interval are NOT in the Cantor set (and the same for every smaller excluded interval ad infinitum, not to mention the open sets to the left and right of the Cantor set). Then on p.22 we have a hopelessly inadequate description of the Peano curve, which you can improve upon simply from Wiki - the whole (fractal) point is that Peano took a pattern that could be repeated to infinity at smaller and smaller scales, thus filling the entire two-dimensional plane with a one-dimensional line. After that things aren't so bad, although the maths of the Julia and Mandelbrot sets is interesting, so it's a shame it had to be missed out. Clouds and coastlines and stuff were what interested me, as I hadn't covered them, and the book does a fairly nice job with them and with the Hausdorff dimension (although again the book's use of logarithms is bizarre - the fractal dimension is the log, to the base 'scale-factor', of the repetitions. To divide the log of the repetitions by the log of the scale-factor is merely a shortcut you can use to calculate the actual logarithm).
It looked as though the information density was such that the book would contain a huge amount of info.... Read more ›
It looked as though the information density was such that the book would contain a huge amount of info.... Read more ›
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Did not go deep enough into the subject and waltzed on with a 'let's scratch the surface' attitude. Dig deeper or leave alone.
By The Gamer
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Not really a book ideal for learning about Fractals as it goes into too little details about the concepts. If you're after a book that introduces the basic concepts to a child, then by all means purchase this but if you require something more academically geared, this book is not for you.
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Simply good. It does exactly what it says on the cover. Accessible by people of all levels of science understanding.
By T. Rashid
Format:Paperback
If this book is only trying to bring "literacy" of fractals to the general reader, then yes it does a great job, particularly in getting across a feeling for the subject.
However, for those readers who are a little more inquisitive or challenging, the book will fail. But to be fair that's not what the book sets out to do.
For me the book spent too much of its content giving examples of fractal-like structure - but was way too loose in its correctness, which to a trained mind (or a pedantic mind) will get very annoying.
It begs interesting questions but doesn't discuss them - leaving a great sense of feeling unfulfilled.
However, for those readers who are a little more inquisitive or challenging, the book will fail. But to be fair that's not what the book sets out to do.
For me the book spent too much of its content giving examples of fractal-like structure - but was way too loose in its correctness, which to a trained mind (or a pedantic mind) will get very annoying.
It begs interesting questions but doesn't discuss them - leaving a great sense of feeling unfulfilled.
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