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Throughout history, thinkers from mathematicians
to theologians have pondered the mysterious relationship
between numbers and the nature of reality. In this fascinating
book, Mario Livio tells the tale of a number at the heart
of that mystery: phi, or 1.6180339887. This curious
mathematical relationship, widely known as the "Golden
Ratio," was defined by Euclid more than two thousand
years ago because of its crucial role in the construction
of the pentagram, to which magical properties had been attributed.
Since then it has shown a propensity to appear in the most
astonishing variety of places -- from mollusk shells, sunflower
florets, and the crystals of some materials, to the shapes
of galaxies containing billions of stars. Psychological
studies have investigated whether the Golden Ratio is the
most aesthetically pleasing proportion extant, and it has
been asserted that the creators of the Pyramids and the
Parthenon employed it. It is believed to feature in works
of art from Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa to Salvador Dali's
The Sacrament of the Last Supper, and poets and composers
have used it in their works. It has even been suggested
that it is connected to the behavior of the stock market!
The Golden Ratio is a captivating
journey through art and architecture, botany and biology,
physics and mathematics. It tells the human story of numerous
phi-fixated individuals, including the followers
of Pythagoras, who believed that this proportion revealed
the hand of God; astronomer Johannes Kepler, who say phi
as one of the greatest treasures of geometry; such medieval
thinkers as mathematician Leonardo Fibonacci of Pisa; and
such masters of the modern world as Debussy, Le Corbusier,
Bartok, and physicist Roger Penrose. Wherever his quest
for the meaning of phi takes him, Mario Livio reveals
the world as a place where order, beauty, and eternal mystery
will always coexist.
Mario Livio, Ph.D., is Head of the Science
Division at the Hubble Space Telescope Science Institute,
where he conducts research on a broad range of topics in
cosmology and astrophysics. In particular, he is interested
in stellar explosions, the expansion of the universe, physical
processes near black holes, and the emergence of intelligent
life. He is the author of one previous book, The Accelerating
Universe (2000). He has published over three hundred
scientific papers and is a frequent public lecturer at such
venues as the Smithsonian Institution and the Hayden Planetarium.
He lives in Baltimore, Maryland.
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