- Paperback: 304 pages
- Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd; New edition edition (29 April 1999)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0140258760
- ISBN-13: 978-0140258769
- Product Dimensions: 19.4 x 13 x 2.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 966,639 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Description
Product Description
Until the middle of this century, it was completely unclear whether life had any kind of inorganic basis. The discovery of the first secret of life, the molecular structure of DNA, solved that particular riddle. But some secrets lie deeper than the genetic code. There is the rich texture of the physical universe, its deep laws, its patterns, forms, structures, processes and systems. At this level it is the mathematical laws of physics and chemistry that control the growing organism's response to its genetic instructions. Life is a partnership between genes and mathematics. In this book, Ian Stewart presents an account of life's other secret nature's mathematics. Taking the visionary work of the zoologist D'Arcy Thompson as an inspiration, Stewart reveals a series of dazzling mathematical patterns in the organic world: the spiralling geometry of a sea shell, the artful ripples of angelfish scales, the strange symmetries of viruses and the complex symmetry in the seed head of a sunflower. Stewart describes how complexity theory may help explain the origin and evolution of life. He explores the hidden mathematical order in flocks of birds and crowds of people, and goes on to show how the very nerve cells that relay the perception of these natural phenomena to the brain embody mathematical models.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
I read this book on holiday. I will never forget the holiday. I have a six-year-old daughter and she and I had days of fun as a result of this book. We counted fibonacci series numbers in pine cones and petals and spent hours investigating nature for the clues introduced in the book. And if you don't know what pronking is you should read this book (and try pronking on the beach). We caught Mackerel and were fascinated by the patterns on their backs. But there is much more to this book than fun. It is a tremendous introduction to the expanding field of mathematics in all its forms. It takes a journey through the principles of self-organising systems and self-replication. It looks at the mathematics of form and clearly indicates the context in which DNA exists. In layman's terms (that's my terms) the author illustrates how DNA does not need to carry all the information. DNA nudges the environment and it's the underlying structure of the universe that contains the laws and mathematics that result in the diversity of life itself. I can't rate the content and ideas in the book highly enough. The reason for the 4 star rating is that I feel there were weak areas, and, heck, I want to know more. It is a fun book, easy to read, and it will enhance your life!
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It seems that at last complexity theory is starting to pervade the bookshelves of the popular science section. Whilst I agree the cell biology got a bit too involved for someone without even a Standard Grade in the subject, I was able to skip the intricacies and still glean a great deal from the book. Absolutely fascinating questions are posed: how does an embryonic stem cell 'know' to become a muscle cell or a brain cell. Whilst DNA has provided the ingredients, this book searches for the processes. A bit like geographers looking at mountains and saying they are made of rock and geologists trying to understand how they got there.
Increasingly there is a need for cross-disciplinary collaborations in science, maths economics and medicine. I believe that to answer the sorts of challenges detailed in this book this sort of approach is required. Hopefully as more people pick up this book, they will help to break down the inter-didciplinary silo mentality that has formed over the centuries.
1 of 3 people found the following review helpful
This book contains some very interesting facts about how maths is of utmost importance in everyday life. Unfortunately I felt that the book went into a little too much biological detail in areas, which made reading unenjoyable without the relavant biological knowledge. However, I did enjoy the majority of the book, and would recommend the book to anyone interested in biology or mathematics, but not to the general reader.
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