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The Self-Made Tapestry: Pattern Formation in Nature (Paperback)

by Philip Ball (Author) "There was always something a little different about meteorite ALH84001, found in 1984 on the icy Allan Hills of Antarctica ..." (more)

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Product details

Paperback: 312 pages
Publisher: OUP Oxford; New Ed edition (5 Jul 2001)
Language English
ISBN-10: 0198502435
ISBN-13: 978-0198502432
Product Dimensions: 24.8 x 18.9 x 1.7 cm

Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)

Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 307,890 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review

The patterns of nature have fascinated humans for millennia. From spirals carved into rock during Neolithic times to the sand patterns of "executive" toys, we respond to and often replicate the underlying "order" of nature. The mathematical regularity of logarithmic spiral patterns in plant growth, such as seen in the florets of sunflowers and cauliflowers, was first characterised in 1202 by the Italian, Leonardo of Pisa, nicknamed Fibonacci. Since then technological and mathematical advances have allowed us to see patterning on all scales from spiral galaxies to vortices, waves and turbulence in the atmosphere and oceans and down into the packing of atoms and Mandelbrot fractal patterns of growth in all sorts of materials. So close do the worlds of the organic and inorganic become that they can be hard to tell apart. As Philip Ball asks: "Surely we can...tell a crystal from a living creature, an insect from a rock?"

British science writer Philip Ball joins an illustrious band of scientists and writers who have been stimulated to try and make sense of all this patterning which surrounds us. He particularly follows in the footsteps of D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson, whose 1917 book On Growth and Form has been enormously influential. Generations of scientists have been inspired to look more closely at the relationships between organisms and the way they use materials for constructing their skeletons and homes from individual shells to whole cities. Equally, artists have been reminded to look again at nature, just as their Renaissance forbears, such as Leonardo Da Vinci, did. Modern architects looked again at the logarithmic spiral and the Golden Section derived from it, as did the superlative architects of classical Greece, to proportion their buildings.

Thompson's classic work is a particularly hard "act" to follow but Ball acquits himself very well. From his position as an editor at premier science journal Nature, Ball is particularly well placed to survey the enormous range of contemporary scientific investigation which reveals the extraordinary extent of nature's patterning. Using a wealth of illustration, Ball attempts to go beyond the niceties of a host of attractive examples, in order to "map many of nature's tapestries into some universal blueprints, in which the specifics cease to matter". The physics, mathematics and chemistry are well handled for the lay reader. A good bibliography, index and "home experiments" (not for the uninitiated) help those who want to explore further. After reading this book you will find yourself looking anew at cracked windows, fingerprints, dissolving coffee grains, boiling water, leaf veins... --Douglas Palmer --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

The Sunday Times

"Philip Ball has produced a superb book about patterns in nature, The Self-Made Tapestry. From the ribbed desert sands to tree-form streaks of lightening, countless examples give rise to fascinating reflections on the astounding order that exists amid chaos. Lavishly illustrated, this is a stunning book."

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There was always something a little different about meteorite ALH84001, found in 1984 on the icy Allan Hills of Antarctica. Read the first page

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	34% buy the item featured on this page: The Self-Made Tapestry: Pattern Formation in Nature 4.0 out of 5 stars (1) �38.00
	27% buy Shapes: Nature's patterns: a tapestry in three parts 3.5 out of 5 stars (2) �10.26
	17% buy Branches: Nature's patterns: a tapestry in three parts �8.98
	15% buy Flow: Nature's patterns: a tapestry in three parts �9.64

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4.0 out of 5 stars Well written and beautifully illustrated, 18 Jun 2001

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This review is from: The Self-made Tapestry: Pattern Formation in Nature (Hardcover)

An excellent book which takes you on an journey through nature. From sea shells to trees, it explains the fundamental growth laws that determine shape and form, whilst avoiding detailed mathematical treatments of geometry. Philip Ball demonstrates how features such as structure and functionality can be "built in" using only the most basic design principles, and how form is so often determined by nescessity. A probablistic approach to construction - where only the most "efficient" forms are employed, and nature does this so effortlessly - captivating! The illustrations and photography are excellent and help to keep you hooked. Recommeded reading for chemists, nanotechnologists and architects.

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