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Library | Item Barcode | Call Number | Material Type | Item Category 1 | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Searching... | 30000010293000 | Q172.5.C45 B35 2009 v.1 | Open Access Book | Book | Searching... |
Searching... | 30000010292999 | Q172.5.C45 B35 2009 v.2 | Open Access Book | Book | Searching... |
Searching... | 30000010292998 | Q172.5.C45 B35 2009 v.3 | Open Access Book | Book | Searching... |
On Order
Summary
Summary
Patterns are everywhere in nature - in the ranks of clouds in the sky, the stripes of an angelfish, the arrangement of petals in flowers. Where does this order and regularity come from? It creates itself. The patterns we see come from self-organization. Whether living or non-living, scientists have found that there is a pattern-forming tendency inherent in the basic structure and processes of nature, so that from a few simple themes, and the repetition of simple rules, endless beautiful variations can arise. Part of a trilogy of books exploring the science of patterns in nature, acclaimed science writer Philip Ball here looks at how shapes form. From soap bubbles to honeycombs, delicate shell patterns, and even the developing body parts of a complex animal like ourselves, he uncovers patterns in growth and form in all corners of the natural world, explains how these patterns are self-made, and why similar shapes and structures may be found in very different settings, orchestrated by nothing more than simple physical forces. This book will make you look at the world with fresh eyes, seeing order and form even in the places you'd least expect.
Author Notes
Philip Ball is a freelance writer and a consultant editor for Nature, where he previously worked as an editor for physical sciences. He is a regular commentator in the scientific and popular media on science and its interactions with art, history and culture. His ten books on scientific subjects include The Self-Made Tapestry: Pattern Formation in Nature, H2O: A Biography of Water, The Devil's Doctor: Paracelsus and the World of Renaissance Magic and Science, and Critical Mass: How One Thing Leads To Another, which won the 2005 Aventis Prize for Science Books. He was awarded the 2006 James T. Grady - James H. Stack award by the American Chemical Society for interpreting chemistry for the public. Philip studied chemistry at Oxford and holds a doctorate in physics from the University of Bristol. His latest book The Music Instinct published in February 2010.
Reviews 1
Choice Review
Ball, a science writer and consultant editor for Nature magazine, has produced a three-volume exploration of nature's capacity to produce endless patterns from living and nonliving materials. Over time and under infinitely varying conditions, physical, chemical, and biological forces generate the constantly changing world in which we live. These changes are governed by elegant, far-reaching principles, which are the focus of the author's explorations. In the first volume, Shapes, he examines a number of familiar pattern types in nature and identifies the physical and mathematical principles that underlie their formation. Using D'Arcy Thompson's work as a springboard, he touches on a wide variety of natural forms ranging from radiolaria, cell membranes, and butterfly wings to seashells, leopard spots, and termite mounds.In the second of the series, Flow, the author discusses the patterned consistency of forms in motion--in different time frames and under different circumstances--that reveal a deep unity within nature. Beginning with Leonardo da Vinci's drawings of turbulence and Harold Edgerton's high-speed photographs, Ball proceeds through a consideration of ordered flows, convection patterns, and the properties of chaotic systems, which he sees as the unifying principles that tie together such disparate phenomena as the hexagonal patterns of both beehives and Saturn's north pole, and the granular behavior of sand dunes on Mars and convection cells in the sun's photosphere.The last volume is Branches. From the snowflake crystals and the fractal character of mountain terrains to waterways, bacterial colonies, and social networks, another set of underlying principles emerge, producing patterns of branching, self-similarity, and interconnection. This work draws on a variety of disciplines from physics, chemistry, and geology to biology, sociology, and mathematics. Ball is an inspired generalist who is able to take different intellectual and academic perspectives, as well as wildly divergent natural phenomena, and weave them into a coherent tapestry that will serve the professional and the casual reader alike. The writing is both precise and readable, and the generous illustrations--line diagrams, black-and-white photos, and color plates--are fascinating, informative, and consistently well done. Although a number of works like this have been published in recent years, few have been of similar quality. These three volumes are a worthwhile addition to any library collection. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through professionals; general audiences. R. M. Davis emeritus, Albion College
Table of Contents
| Preface and acknowledgements | p. ix |
| 1 The Shapes of Things | p. 1 |
| Pattern and Form | |
| 2 Lessons of the Beehive | p. 36 |
| Building With Bubbles | |
| 3 Making Waves | p. 107 |
| Stripes in a Test Tube | |
| 4 Written on the Body | p. 156 |
| Hiding, Warning, and Mimicking | |
| 5 Rhythms of the Wild | p. 205 |
| Crystal Communities | |
| 6 How Does Your Garden Grow? | p. 231 |
| The Mathematics of a Daisy | |
| 7 Unfolding the Embryo | p. 261 |
| The Formation of Body Plans | |
| Appendices | p. 291 |
| Bibliography | p. 299 |
| Index | p. 307 |
