THE PARSIMONIOUS UNIVERSE: SHAPE AND FORM IN THE NATURAL WORLD Book

Why are eggs egg-shaped and fish fish-shaped? Why are the planets and stars spheres rather than squares or pyramids? What would we uncover if we subjected nature's design schemes to mathematical scrutiny?

The variety of sizes, shapes, and irregularities in nature is endless. Skillfully integrating text and full-color illustrations, The Parsimonious Universe describes the efforts of scientists and mathematicians since the Renaissance to identify and describe the basic laws underlying the shape of natural forms.

Can one set of laws account for both the symmetry and regularity as well as the infinite variety of nature's designs? A complete answer to this question is likely never to be discovered. Still, down through the ages, the investigation of form and pattern in nature has yielded some fascinating and surprising insights.

In The Parsimonious Universe, Stefan Hildebrandt and Anthony Tromba invite readers to join in the search for the mathematical underpinnings of natural shape and form. Moving from ancient times to the present, the book looks at centuries worth of evidence that the physical world adheres to the principle of the economy of means-meaning nature achieves efficiency by being rather stingy with the energy it expends.

The Parsimonious Universe is full of historical discussions, striking color illustrations, and examples ranging from atomic nuclei to soap bubbles to honeycombs to igloos to spirals to fractals. The authors open up an intriguing avenue of scientific inquiry at a non-mathematical, non-technical level, showing what can be discovered when mathematics is used to investigate the natural world.