A Beginner's Guide to Constructing the Universe: The Mathematical Archetypes of Nature, Art, and Science

1995: HarperPerennial, New York, NY, 1994. First Edition, first printing (full number line). xxxii, 351 pages: illustrations; 24 cm Fine in fine jacket; slight foxing to upper edge; else as new. Hardcover. ISBN: 9780060926717, 9780060169398

"Michael Schneider leads us on a spectacular, illustrated journey along the numbers one through ten to explore the mathematical principles made visible in flowers, shells, crystals, plants, and the human body, expressed in the symbolic language of folk sayings and fairy tales, myth and religion, art and architecture. This is a new view of mathematics, not the one we learned at school but a comprehensive guide to the patterns that recur through the universe and underlie human affairs." —Publisher. Contents: Geometry and the quest for reality / John Michell. Introduction. Monad: Wholly one. Dyad: It takes two to tango. Triad: Three-part harmony. Tetrad: Mother substance. Pentad: Regeneration. Hexad: Structure-function-order. Heptad: Enchanting virgin. Octad: Periodic renewal. Ennead: The horizon. Decad: Beyond number. Epilogue: Now that you've constructed the universe....