Symmetry is as simple or as complicated as we are ready to absorb it in everything around us. From flowers to bridges, buildings, coke machines, and snowflakes; from molecules to walnuts, fences, pine cones, and sunflowers; from music to children's drawings; from hubcaps to bank logos, propellers, wallpaper decorations, and pavements, we recognize it if we walk around with open eyes and an open mind. This book provides aesthetic pleasure and covert education, immersing the reader in both the familiar and the unknown and leading always to unexpected discoveries.
The authors, world-renowned scientists, have already produced a dozen books on symmetry for professionals as well as lay persons, for grownups as well as children, in English, Russian, German, Hungarian, and Swedish languages. They provide this attractive account of symmetry in few words and many — as many as 650 — images in full color from the most diverse corners of our globe. An encounter with this book will open up a whole new experience for the reader, who will never look at the world with the same eyes as before.
Sample Chapter(s)
Introduction (100 KB)
Mirror Symmetry (1,094 KB)
Contents:
- Introduction
- Mirror Symmetry
- Chirality
- Multiple Mirrors
- Rotational Symmetry
- Shape and Movement
- Polyhedra
- Repetitions
- Helical Symmetry
- Planar Patterns
- Crystals
- Antisymmetry
- Epilogue
- Acknowledgments
Readership: Students, teachers, artists, designers, art historians, architects, and lay people.
“It is a wonderful book…”
Martinus Veltman
Nobel laureate in Physics
“This book contains a virtual treasure trove of elegant images which will feed those most basic of human attributes — the fascination with and attraction to symmetry.”
Harry Kroto
Nobel laureate in Chemistry
“Symmetry or the lack of it is one of the basic properties of the world around us. The reader will have a lot of fun studying the examples presented in this charming book.”
Peter Lax
Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences
New York University
“From nature's bounty to the work of human beings, from cauliflowers to a tower in Park Güell, correspondence and pattern are to be found in this world. Magdolna and István Hargittai capture these images, and share with us their winsome and wonderful bounty. One emerges from this lovely book simply intoxicated with symmetry.”
Roald Hoffmannn
Nobel laureate in Chemistry
“It is a remarkable work of ‘Visual Symmetry’, a true pleasure for our eyes and a full appreciation of the beauty and significance of symmetry, whether natural or created by human imagination and creativity. This book is for readers of all age groups and be kept as a cherished momento to which they will frequently return.”
George A Olah
Nobel Laureate in Chemistry
“The authors show us in a wonderful written and visual language that the world of symmetry does not only surround us, but is indeed endless.”
Aaron Ciechanover
Nobel Laureate in Chemistry
“This book is a guide to the joy of aesthetics of natural as well as man-made objects. The clear and gentle approach of the book as well as the fine examples, will apply to every intelligent reader.”
Dan Shechtman
Technion-Israel Institute of Technology
“The photographs, which are gorgeous, are mostly taken by the authors. While it contains rather little explicit mathematics, and could be enjoyed on a purely aesthetic basis by a non-mathematician, it is a deeply mathematical book.”
Zentralblatt MATH
“A nice picture book that is most pleasing to look at. An ideal present to give, a desirable thing to have in your library at home.”
Bulletin of the Belgian Mathematical Society
