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Review
`A surreal vision of the varied - and beautiful - world of pasta'
--The Financial Times
'The Mathematician's cookbook of the year ... a kind of culinary sudoku' --Telegraph Magazine
'A refreshingly original book on food' --EasyVoyage.co.uk
`Fun, quirky and sure to become a cult food and design publication, this book offers an entirely fresh and idiosyncratic look at the world's most popular food - pasta ... This information, developed over hundreds of hours of research, is utterly unique - and beautiful.' --Dezeen.com
'Playful proof that immense variety and seeming complexity can be reduced to simple mathematical beginnings' --New Scientist
'A labour of love'
--Crafts Magazine
--The Financial Times
'The Mathematician's cookbook of the year ... a kind of culinary sudoku' --Telegraph Magazine
'A refreshingly original book on food' --EasyVoyage.co.uk
`Fun, quirky and sure to become a cult food and design publication, this book offers an entirely fresh and idiosyncratic look at the world's most popular food - pasta ... This information, developed over hundreds of hours of research, is utterly unique - and beautiful.' --Dezeen.com
'Playful proof that immense variety and seeming complexity can be reduced to simple mathematical beginnings' --New Scientist
'A labour of love'
--Crafts Magazine
Product Description
This is not a cookbook; this is an entirely fresh and idiosyncratic look at the worlds most popular food. Architect George L. Legrande has compiled and profiled 92 different kinds of pasta, classifying them into types using the science of phylogeny (the study of relatedness among natural forms). Opening the book is a pasta family tree, revealing unexpected relationships between pasta shapes, their usage and common DNA. Each subsequent spread is devoted to a single pasta, and features a short text that explains the foods geographical origin, its process of manufacture as well as its etymology alongside suggestions for minute-perfect preparation. Next the pasta shape is rendered as both a mathematical equation and a line diagram that displays every distinctive scrunch, ridge and crimp with loving precision. Photographs by Stefano Graziani complement these meticulous renderings, showing the elegant contours of each pasta shape. Finally a gatefold features a Pasta Family Reunion diagram, reassembling the pasta types and grouping them by their mathematical and geometric properties.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I opened this book expecting to find a history of pasta and an explanation of the various types. What it actually does is something remarkably novel - it provides you with the mathematical equations required to construct each of 92 types of pasta, along with a very satisfying demonstration. It's a perfect present for my Godson who is very keen on maths, but I'm getting one for myself as well, because it's the perfect coffee table read; original, beautiful, intriguing and a completely new way of looking at the everyday.
M
M
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
5 reviews
14 of 17 people found the following review helpful
NEVER SAY BASTA TO PASTA!
31 Oct 2011
Format:Hardcover
Best to admit bias up front: Pasta is one of my favorite dishes. For me, it's not only tasty, but totally satisfying and can be served in a myriad of ways. Now, while I thought I had a number of pasta recipes I had no idea how many different pastas there were. My cravings for that hunger busting "mixture of durum wheat flour and water" will be fulfilled for a very long time.
Principal of IJP Architects in London and a leading specialist in complex surfaces author Legendre celebrates the multitude of wonderful shapes in which pasta is found. From acini de pepe (the smallest member of the tiny pasta family, perfect for consommes) to ziti (a tubular hollow pasta often served on special occasions) each pasta is given its due. Over ninety forms of pasta are featured in remarkable phonographs that clearly reveal shapes and surfaces.
Each form is accompanied by a brief text outlining the special qualities of that pasta as well as a note on cooking it. For instance, with Linguine we find that it has a "straight longitudinal profile, solid cross section, smooth surface and edges." We read that it is the thinnest member of its particular family, and is best accompanied by "fresh tomato, herbs, a drop of olive oil, garlic, anchovies and hot peppers." A mouth-watering suggestion! It is also properly served with shellfish sauces or flavored white sauces.
In addition each pasta receives a mathematical formula describing its shape and revelatory drawings. Nothing is overlooked in this paean to an extraordinary everyday food.
I find my pasta at Manicaretti (...), Italian food importers. They offer every kind of pasta imaginable as well as superb pasta sauces.
Enjoy!
- Gail Cooke
Principal of IJP Architects in London and a leading specialist in complex surfaces author Legendre celebrates the multitude of wonderful shapes in which pasta is found. From acini de pepe (the smallest member of the tiny pasta family, perfect for consommes) to ziti (a tubular hollow pasta often served on special occasions) each pasta is given its due. Over ninety forms of pasta are featured in remarkable phonographs that clearly reveal shapes and surfaces.
Each form is accompanied by a brief text outlining the special qualities of that pasta as well as a note on cooking it. For instance, with Linguine we find that it has a "straight longitudinal profile, solid cross section, smooth surface and edges." We read that it is the thinnest member of its particular family, and is best accompanied by "fresh tomato, herbs, a drop of olive oil, garlic, anchovies and hot peppers." A mouth-watering suggestion! It is also properly served with shellfish sauces or flavored white sauces.
In addition each pasta receives a mathematical formula describing its shape and revelatory drawings. Nothing is overlooked in this paean to an extraordinary everyday food.
I find my pasta at Manicaretti (...), Italian food importers. They offer every kind of pasta imaginable as well as superb pasta sauces.
Enjoy!
- Gail Cooke
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Hits the sweet spot
27 Jan 2012
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I bought this book for my Montessori students (grades 4-6), but it is definitely just on loan to the class. The fun for students, besides poring over the pasta pictures, is trying to graph the second and third faces that are given by a formula (one face is always shown). It's a bonus to have the pasta taxonomy laid out at the front, and the fold-out chart relating the method of creation for each of the various shapes at the back. Lots of oohing going on in class. I'm looking forward to browsing from a cook's perspective as well!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Pasta By Design at Amazon.com
17 Jan 2012
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Gave this as a Christmas gift and the recipient loved it. A really cool, cool book and fun to read. This may peak your interest in Math if you are not a fan.
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