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There are two approaches by which we human
beings have explored our world: the path of science, which
has given us increasingly deeper understanding of the nature
of our Universe, expressed with the grace and precision
of mathematics, and reaching far beyond our immediate human
experience; and the path of the creative arts, by which
we delve inward, into our emotions and imagination, and
express our responses through art, language, and music.
Yet are the two as separate as they seem? Far from it, for
we ourselves are evolved products of the laws and forces
of the universe, not external observers. We are deeply embedded
in the warp and weft of its very fabric.
In this inspiring, erudite, and wide-ranging
exploration, John D. Barrow shows how our size, our form,
and our aesthetic sensibilities are all moulded by the physical
nature of the universe we inhabit. He explores the underlying
mathematical relationships and patterns behind some of our
art and music and their connections with natural forms,
and draws out the ways in which the rhythms of our world
-- of day and night, and the yearly cycle of seasons --
have impinged on the human psyche throughout history.
Originally published in 1995, this new edition
has been updated and enlarged. From fundamental forces,
multiverses, and evolution of complexity, to the patterns
in the night sky, the beauty of vases, the music of Bach,
Masaccio's use of perspective, and the fractal nature of
Jackson Pollock's art, this book unveils a richly varied
series of surprises that reveal how our existence and culture
are framed and guided by the fundamental physical and mathematical
structure of our artful universe.
John D. Barrow is Professor of Mathematical
Sciences and Director of the Millennium Mathematics Project
at Cambridge University, Gresham Professor of Astronomy
and a Fellow of the Royal Society. His principal area of
scientific research is cosmology, and he is the author of
many highly acclaimed books about the nature and significance
of modern developments in physics, astronomy, and mathematics,
including The Left Hand of Creation, The Anthropic Cosmological
Principle, The World Within the World, Theories of Everything:
The Quest for Ultimate Explanation, Pi in the Sky: Counting,
Thinking, and Being, Impossibility: the limits of science
and the science of limits, Between Inner Space and Outer
Space, The Origin of the Universe, The Universe that Discovered
Itself, The Book of Nothing, The Constants of Nature: from
alpha to omega and, most recently, The Infinite Book:
a short guide to the boundless, timeless and endless.
He is also the author of the award-winning play Infinities.
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