Saturday, April 25, 2009

The maths of symmetry

During this week I had the time to read this fine book. Not very known as du Sautoy's first book (The Music of the primes) but very stimulating, with a lot of ideas. It explores the mathematician's quest to understand the mystery of symmetry in nature, the art and the universe, from the age of Ancient Greeks (Plato : "God ever geometrizes") to the modern era. The only problem is that the writer has an ego bigger than the egos of Gauss, Abel and von Neumann putted together... Too many I's to grasp for a maths book.. The really great minds are more humble...But the book is worth reading for the stimulation you get.

1 comment:

andreahaku said...

I'll do. But before that I have to restart reading the first one :( Thanks for the suggestion.