TITLE:  The Golden Ratio:  The Divine Beauty of Mathematics

AUTHOR:  Gary B. Meisner, Rafael Araujo (illustrator)

PUBLICATION DATE:  23 October 2018

FORMAT:  ARC PDF

ISBN-13:  9781631064869

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NOTE: I received a copy of this book from NetGalley. This review is my honest opinion of the book.

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DESCRIPTION:

“The Golden Ratio examines the presence of this divine number in art and architecture throughout history, as well as its ubiquity among plants, animals, and even the cosmos. This gorgeous book features clear, entertaining, and enlightening commentary alongside stunning full-color illustrations by Venezuelan artist and architect Rafael Araujo.

 

From the pyramids of Giza, to quasicrystals, to the proportions of the human face, the golden ratio has an infinite capacity to generate shapes with exquisite properties. 

 

With its lush format and layflat dimensions that closely approximate the golden ratio, this is the ultimate coffee table book for math enthusiasts, architects, designers, and fans of sacred geometry."

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The Golden Ration by Gary Meisner is an exquisitely illustration, beautifully and clearly written introductory book about the Golden Ratio and related subjects.  There are lovely full-colour illustrations and photographs on nearly every page.  The book begins with the unique properties of the golden ratio and then continues on to its appearance in art and design, architecture (pyramids, cathedrals, musical instruments), nature (leaf and petal arrangements, fractals, spirals, facial proportions, buckyballs, quantum physics, golden DNA, the nautilus controversy), and many other interesting mathematical goodies such as tessellations, platonic solids, the Fibonacci sequence, Pascal’s Triangles etc.  The book also includes appendices that deal with critical thinking, notes and further reading, and “Golden Constructions”.  There are a number of equations and geometrical illustrations, but nothing particularly complicated.  In the author’s own words:  “not everything is based on the golden ratio, but the number of places in which it seems to appear is truly amazing and we are sure to uncover it more and more as technology advances and out knowledge of the physical universe expands”. 

This is definately a book I will be adding to my library.

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I first read this book in December 2015.  I like it so much that I purchased my own copy. 

This is a beautifully written book that blends clearly described, scientific discoveries with the compelling personal insight of a husband and wife author/biologist/geologist team.  The book explores the importance of microbes in the soil and in people.  The authors discuss both the history of various scientific discoveries and the functioning of these microbes, as well as how these microbes relate to gardening/farming, plant growth, the immune system, the gut, auto-immune diseases,  and general health of both humans and the environment.  I found this book to be both fascinating and educational, without being condescending or oversimplified.

Other Recommended Books:

~March of the Microbes:  Sighting the Unseen by John L. Ingraham

~The Wild Life of Our Bodies by Rob Dunn

~Why We Get Sick:  The New Science of Darwinian Medicine by Randolph M Nesse & George C. Williams

~Parasite Rex by Carl Zimmer

To paraphrase the author, this book is Dr. Christie Wilcox's ode to the fearsome power of venomous creatures and her tribute to their incredible scientific potential.  This is a beautifully written book on the little discussed and known subject of venom.   The book is an investigation into venom and some of the weird and wonderful creatures that use them.  The author takes a look at how venomous creatures interact with other species and ecosystems, how these interactions have effected the evolutionary path of these species (including humans).  Dr. Wilcox reveals how the different types of venom work, what they do to the human (and prey) body, adaptation and immunity to venom, and how these substances can revolutionize biochemistry and the medical field.  

The author is a molecular biologist writing for an intelligent public (of any age - teenagers might enjoy this book too).  The author manages to balance all the interesting science with amusing or illustrative anecdotes without making these personal stories seem like useless filler.  Who could find stories about Komodo Dragons, venomous mammals, carnivorous snails, bullet ants which inflict one of the most painful sting in the world, bees, spiders, snakes, wasps that turn cockroaches into zombies, and spikey caterpillars that turn your insides into mush, boring? 

She includes enough well-explained biochemical detail to show how different venom functions, without bogging the reader down with excruciating detail, and she does not "dumb-down" the science either (THANK YOU!).   There are numerous photographs and illustrations which would probably be more legible (or at least larger) in the paper version of the book than the Kindle version I read.  

This book is both informative and entertaining to read.  I learned a great deal of new stuff (which is the point to reading science books) and had fun while doing all this learning.  This is an author who I hope writes more science books in the future.