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Patterns in Nature: Why the Natural World Looks the Way It Does
Though at first glance the natural world may appear overwhelming in its diversity and complexity, there are regularities running through it, from the hexagons of a honeycomb to the spirals of a seashell and the branching veins of a leaf. Revealing the order at the foundation of the seemingly chaotic natural world, Patterns in Nature explores not only the math and science but also the beauty and artistry behind nature’s awe-inspiring designs.
Unlike the patterns we create in technology, architecture, and art, natural patterns are formed spontaneously from the forces that act in the physical world. Very often the same types of pattern and form – spirals, stripes, branches, and fractals, say—recur in places that seem to have nothing in common, as when the markings of a zebra mimic the ripples in windblown sand. That’s because, as Patterns in Nature shows, at the most basic level these patterns can often be described using the same mathematical and physical there is a surprising underlying unity in the kaleidoscope of the natural world. Richly illustrated with 250 color photographs and anchored by accessible and insightful chapters by esteemed science writer Philip Ball, Patterns in Nature reveals the organization at work in vast and ancient forests, powerful rivers, massing clouds, and coastlines carved out by the sea.
By exploring similarities such as those between a snail shell and the swirling stars of a galaxy, or the branches of a tree and those of a river network, this spectacular visual tour conveys the wonder, beauty, and richness of natural pattern formation.
Unlike the patterns we create in technology, architecture, and art, natural patterns are formed spontaneously from the forces that act in the physical world. Very often the same types of pattern and form – spirals, stripes, branches, and fractals, say—recur in places that seem to have nothing in common, as when the markings of a zebra mimic the ripples in windblown sand. That’s because, as Patterns in Nature shows, at the most basic level these patterns can often be described using the same mathematical and physical there is a surprising underlying unity in the kaleidoscope of the natural world. Richly illustrated with 250 color photographs and anchored by accessible and insightful chapters by esteemed science writer Philip Ball, Patterns in Nature reveals the organization at work in vast and ancient forests, powerful rivers, massing clouds, and coastlines carved out by the sea.
By exploring similarities such as those between a snail shell and the swirling stars of a galaxy, or the branches of a tree and those of a river network, this spectacular visual tour conveys the wonder, beauty, and richness of natural pattern formation.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published April 5, 2016
About the author
Philip Ball
66 books409 followersPhilip Ball (born 1962) is an English science writer. He holds a degree in chemistry from Oxford and a doctorate in physics from Bristol University. He was an editor for the journal Nature for over 10 years. He now writes a regular column in Chemistry World. Ball's most-popular book is the 2004 Critical Mass: How One Things Leads to Another, winner of the 2005 Aventis Prize for Science Books. It examines a wide range of topics including the business cycle, random walks, phase transitions, bifurcation theory, traffic flow, Zipf's law, Small world phenomenon, catastrophe theory, the Prisoner's dilemma. The overall theme is one of applying modern mathematical models to social and economic phenomena.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews
October 5, 2016
This sure is a pretty book. For creatives and artists, it is positively inspirational. The book is mostly photographs of things which form patterns in nature, and the photographs are colorized to make the patterns stand out. My favorite pictures are fine grains on flat surfaces that form different patterns when disturbed by sound waves. The astonishing wave patterns have been named Chladni figures.
The other thing I thought one of the coolest thing I've ever seen is a picture of Fingal's Cave on the Isle of Staffa in Scotland. Cracks have formed highly regular six-sided posts of basalt. Something similar can be found at a place in California called Devil's Postpile: columnar cracks in the side of a hill. Unbelievably cool.
There is a little commentary that goes along with the photos, but I found it inadequate. I'm sure there is a lot of science and math that should go along with understanding all the causes, etc., but I'd still like to see what's probably happening, for instance, when there are regular patterns on drying clay. No matter, I'll keep looking.
The other thing I thought one of the coolest thing I've ever seen is a picture of Fingal's Cave on the Isle of Staffa in Scotland. Cracks have formed highly regular six-sided posts of basalt. Something similar can be found at a place in California called Devil's Postpile: columnar cracks in the side of a hill. Unbelievably cool.
There is a little commentary that goes along with the photos, but I found it inadequate. I'm sure there is a lot of science and math that should go along with understanding all the causes, etc., but I'd still like to see what's probably happening, for instance, when there are regular patterns on drying clay. No matter, I'll keep looking.
February 23, 2017
Wow, God created a stunningly beautiful world.
This book is about 75% photographs with minimal text to explain both visible and invisible patterns (and make the occasional attack on intelligent design, but whatever). The pictures are high-quality and beautiful and this is a very pleasing book to look through.
This book is about 75% photographs with minimal text to explain both visible and invisible patterns (and make the occasional attack on intelligent design, but whatever). The pictures are high-quality and beautiful and this is a very pleasing book to look through.
January 6, 2021
This is a beautiful book. Though not as big as a traditional coffee table book, it is larger than most hardbacks, at about 10 ¼ inches tall and 9 inches wide, printed on glossy paper and about 280 pages long. It is divided into chapters on Symmetry, Fractals, Spirals, Flow and Chaos, Waves and Dunes, Bubbles and Foam, Arrays and Tiling, Cracks, and Spots and Stripes. Each chapter is introduced with five or six pages of descriptive text, followed by twenty or thirty pages of those amazing photographs. I was pleasantly surprised that the introductory text was well written; while not technical in nature, it was also not so dumbed down as to be useless.
But oh those pictures. Time and again I found myself lingering over them. From microscopic details to mountain ranges they illuminate the subjects of the book and yet stand on their own as amazing images. The double spiral of a sunflower, the meander of a river, the intricate microscopic architecture of radiolarans, beehives, snowflakes, mineral crystals, and much more.
But oh those pictures. Time and again I found myself lingering over them. From microscopic details to mountain ranges they illuminate the subjects of the book and yet stand on their own as amazing images. The double spiral of a sunflower, the meander of a river, the intricate microscopic architecture of radiolarans, beehives, snowflakes, mineral crystals, and much more.
June 25, 2019
Beautiful pictures!
I completely ignored the text, but I'm adding it to my "read" bookshelf anyway because I don't want to create a "looked at but didn't read" shelf.
I completely ignored the text, but I'm adding it to my "read" bookshelf anyway because I don't want to create a "looked at but didn't read" shelf.
June 19, 2016
3.5 stars. Tweet-sized summary: it's about how and why patterns form in nature.
The pictures in this book are stunning! Absolutely gorgeous. The prose is slightly less stunning and somewhat dull at times. Which was a shame. Still worth reading, but it would have been nice if the writing had been more engaging.
The pictures in this book are stunning! Absolutely gorgeous. The prose is slightly less stunning and somewhat dull at times. Which was a shame. Still worth reading, but it would have been nice if the writing had been more engaging.
April 30, 2016
The coffee table companion to Ball's earlier "Nature's Patterns" series. If I remember correctly, the earlier books had many more technical details and far fewer pictures. This book is 95% about the (gorgeous!) pictures, with a bit of well-chosen supporting text.
November 10, 2021
Captivating photography. Learning about all the types of patterns found in different ways all around the natural world was fascinating. I didn't read the entire text, but enjoyed reading the descriptions by each photograph. My kids enjoyed this book, too. It was interesting to ask my two-year-old to name the animals that were shown facing the camera to highlight the symmetry of their faces. He wasn't able to name the zebra, even though it was obvious to me, because he is used to seeing only the side-profile of animals in books. But after describing the angle of the photograph and looking at the black-and-white stripes, I think he was able to understand that it was indeed a zebra.
This book has changed the way I see the natural world and I notice patterns I wasn't aware of before.
This book has changed the way I see the natural world and I notice patterns I wasn't aware of before.
September 14, 2023
THE PICTURES. Yep. The pictures merit all caps. I also really appreciated the organization of the sections. Wonderful experience just to turn the pages.
May 28, 2019
A fascinating book with gorgeous photographs. Spirals, cracks, stripes, and other patterns in nature can be expressed mathematically and result from the properties of physics and chemistry. The explanations went mostly over my head but left me with a sense of awe.
February 9, 2020
As a high school math and science teacher I chose this book to help me share more about patterns. Kids always ask, "What's this got to do with anything? Math sucks." I took this book apart and scanned every page storing these on my computer. When I need examples of algebra and geometry in nature that's a complete match for the equation we're studying . . . I pull up a photograph from these pages, make a digital slide, and challenge everyone to discuss the pattern. "Oh no, Miss, not another pattern." Yet it doesn't take long for engagement to take over and pull everyone into the discussion.
October 3, 2016
So pretty! I didn't necessarily understand all the science behind symmetry, waves, spots and stripes etc, but I loved looking at the pictures.
November 26, 2023
Nature is complicated, seemingly employing an infinite collection of patterns and designs. But, upon closer inspection, we see that the patterns come from a relatively limited set of basic components. These familiar components recur at different size scales and in diverse, totally unrelated systems. What got me into studying this subject was a chance encounter with the observation that human fingerprint patterns and age rings in trees look quite similar.
The first person to try to develop a deep understanding of these patterns was Scottish zoologist D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson, who wrote On Growth and Form, his 1917 masterpiece, to report on what he discovered. One of his key observations was the fact that pattern formation is not a static occurrence but arises from growth.
This very-interesting book consists of 9 chapters, sandwiched between an introduction and glossary & further reading. Here are the titles of the chapters and brief description of their significance.
1. Symmetry: Bilateral symmetry facilitates directional motion. Many kinds of symmetry exist.
2. Fractals: Benoit Mandelbrot’s mathematical tool for studying roughness and self-similarity.
3. Spirals: Most arise from the way things grow. Fibonacci spirals are frequent occurrences.
4. Flow and Chaos: A positive feedback loop changes a river’s zigzagging path over a flat region.
5. Waves and Dunes: The interaction between wind and water or fluid-like sand.
6. Bubbles and Foam: Bubbles are spherical; a mass of bubbles assumes complicated shapes.
7. Arrays and Tiling: Patterns formed by juxtaposition or overlapping of identical shapes.
8. Cracks: The similarity of cracks in dry lake beds, ceramic glaze, and cooling lava is amazing.
9. Spots and Stripes: Can be explained in evolutionary terms, such as serving as camouflage.
The Wikipedia page "Patterns in nature" contains a useful summary of this book's contents.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pattern...
The first person to try to develop a deep understanding of these patterns was Scottish zoologist D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson, who wrote On Growth and Form, his 1917 masterpiece, to report on what he discovered. One of his key observations was the fact that pattern formation is not a static occurrence but arises from growth.
This very-interesting book consists of 9 chapters, sandwiched between an introduction and glossary & further reading. Here are the titles of the chapters and brief description of their significance.
1. Symmetry: Bilateral symmetry facilitates directional motion. Many kinds of symmetry exist.
2. Fractals: Benoit Mandelbrot’s mathematical tool for studying roughness and self-similarity.
3. Spirals: Most arise from the way things grow. Fibonacci spirals are frequent occurrences.
4. Flow and Chaos: A positive feedback loop changes a river’s zigzagging path over a flat region.
5. Waves and Dunes: The interaction between wind and water or fluid-like sand.
6. Bubbles and Foam: Bubbles are spherical; a mass of bubbles assumes complicated shapes.
7. Arrays and Tiling: Patterns formed by juxtaposition or overlapping of identical shapes.
8. Cracks: The similarity of cracks in dry lake beds, ceramic glaze, and cooling lava is amazing.
9. Spots and Stripes: Can be explained in evolutionary terms, such as serving as camouflage.
The Wikipedia page "Patterns in nature" contains a useful summary of this book's contents.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pattern...
August 26, 2020
This book is a flirt, a tease. It was almost really good, but every time it was just getting to the good part, it drew back again. The topics are very interesting in the way they combine multiple fascinating disciplines such as physics, math, and biology. However, ultimately the author seemed more determined to avoid intimidating an unsophisticated general audience than to try to really educate an interested one. Time and again he hinted at influences on how patterns emerged but then stopped short of actually explaining how and why those worked.
Of fractals and the Mandelbrot set he writes:
"It is traced out by an equation that takes one number and transforms it into another, which is then 'fed back' into the equation in an iterative process."
He doesn't bother to write the equation.
Similarly, of turbulence he writes:
"It was later shown that this energy cascade obeys a mathematical law in which the amount of energy bound up in eddies of a particular size is related to that size via a rather simple equation."
What's the equation since it is so simple?
These equations alone would not drastically illuminate the subject but failing to print them when the context seems to beg for it feels symptomatic of the broader choice to eschew depth or detail that makes this book intriguing but unsatisfying.
Of fractals and the Mandelbrot set he writes:
"It is traced out by an equation that takes one number and transforms it into another, which is then 'fed back' into the equation in an iterative process."
He doesn't bother to write the equation.
Similarly, of turbulence he writes:
"It was later shown that this energy cascade obeys a mathematical law in which the amount of energy bound up in eddies of a particular size is related to that size via a rather simple equation."
What's the equation since it is so simple?
These equations alone would not drastically illuminate the subject but failing to print them when the context seems to beg for it feels symptomatic of the broader choice to eschew depth or detail that makes this book intriguing but unsatisfying.
May 31, 2021
How and why do patterns form in nature? From fractals and Mandelbrot sets to gravity and convection currents to the B-Z reaction and feedback loops to foam formation, beeswax and sea sponges, this book provides a good, basic and rather pretty introduction to the concepts that help us understand and model pattern formation in nature. We don't always know why patterns form in nature or what purpose they serve, but understanding how they form can be very informative in understanding many things about nature and biology. "Laws of physics" is usually the answer to many ways patterns form in nature, as the river takes the easiest way down a mountain where gravity's pull is greatest and the resisting forces are the least. But not all cases are that simple. Beyond the how, the why is perhaps even more interesting, but a much more complex question to answer in many cases. Philip Ball writes in a rather simplified way for the lay audience and the book is a good primer and starting point for a deeper dive into a gamut of concepts. The Kindle version is pretty, but I can imagine the physical copy is very nice with all the colorful and detailed photos.
Read
April 4, 2023"Breakage and decay seem like the very antithesis of order and organization, but surprisingly they too can produce varieties of pattern and structure. In some cases it might not look that way; cracks have a jagged chaos that speaks of wild disarray. But even this form recurs in so many different situations that we have to suspect it is the signature of a deeper design, a universal outcome of natural laws. And other crack patterns, like the trellis of fissures in pottery glaze or old paint, have a pleasing geometry of the same stamp which captivates us in foams, spiders' webs, and wrinkle textures. We might even seek them out for their aesthetic appeal; cracking, far from being a nuisance, becomes a source of creative opportunity."
February 20, 2019
This book was very nice in its imagery. I really enjoyed looking at the patterns and it helped me with my own ideas for novels and mathematical designs. Philip Ball is a great author, and I've read some of his other books such as the Molecules: A Very Short Introduction and I find that he explains concepts very well. This book is more of a visual journey arranged in increasing complexity of the various patterns found in nature, as the title describes. By the end, I was full of amazement.
September 9, 2023
An interesting brief discussion of how various patterns appear in nature due to the coordination of various mindless processes. Filled with stunning pictures of those patterns. It includes a brief but engaging discussion of the underlying science that creates these patterns including discussions of fractals, self-similarity and Turing's ideas about morphogenesis. It is a brief work but does have a useful set of suggested readings at the end.
It definitely pays to read this ebook on a device that offers full colour display. I actually read it on my black and white ereader but went back over the images on my laptop to better appreciate the stunning visuals.
It definitely pays to read this ebook on a device that offers full colour display. I actually read it on my black and white ereader but went back over the images on my laptop to better appreciate the stunning visuals.
August 19, 2017
I came across this book due to my interests in biomimicry. The photographs are amazing and I found the similarities of patterns in nature intriguing. The text made it fall short of a full 5 star rating. The text was dry at the beginning of the book, gave less scientific explanations of pattern mechanisms at times than I would have liked, and included occasional jabs at intelligent design that were unnecessary. The text improved later in the book, or perhaps I just got accustomed to it. Overall, the photographs alone are enough to encourage anyone to pick up this book.
April 26, 2020
This book was good! I grabbed it on my last trip to the library (when I was stocking up on books) on a whim. I might not have read it except now the libraries are closed indefinitely. It's full of pictures and I could definitely keep it around to reread about the different patterns. The last caption elaborated on whether nature is more beautiful than it needs to be "...some things in nature look the way they do simply because of the details of how they got to be that way: form becomes a frozen memory of growth." Form as a frozen memory of growth. I love it!
January 20, 2021
The photography is stunning. The content is well-organized and pleasantly presented. I found myself a little desirous of a slightly deeper dive into the math and science (mentioning the name of an equation but not presenting the equation). All of this is no problem really, but I found it difficult to get past the condemnation of the existence of God; it was unsettling to begin the book this way. Why not let the reader decide if the evidence of patterns indicate a higher power that designed nature this way? It is just an unnecessary position to take in an otherwise lovely book.
April 6, 2019
An absolutely stunning and gorgeous book which explores the patterns in nature. I would've loved to read more detailed reasons and explanations behind the patterns, but perhaps the book was intended to mesmerise rather than delve deep.
The commentary accompanying each photograph talks enough to quench the casual curiosity. A perfect coffee table book :)
The commentary accompanying each photograph talks enough to quench the casual curiosity. A perfect coffee table book :)
December 23, 2017
Reading this book by myself was very interesting. When my 4 year old son caught a glimpse, he was hooked. Had to go through the whole book again with him. Every page brought exclamations of "cool" and "wow". Now he says he wants to look through it every day.
December 19, 2016
Ball's text is good, but what makes this book so exceptional are the copious wonderful photographs; micro through macro.
August 24, 2017
Eye candy.
January 11, 2018
A quintessential coffee-table book with vivid photography. Nothing felt truly illuminating for me besides Turing's Morphogenesis. Overall this was like reading a high quality, short documentary.
March 13, 2018
good idea
April 13, 2018
This book wasn't exactly what I expected it to be but it was cool anyway and had awesome pictures!
October 2, 2018
Book rich in textures a d hugh quality images ideal for inspiration.
October 26, 2021
This book is well worth browsing, with gorgeous photos and a fun, semi-technical exploration of different types of patterns that form in nature.
December 12, 2021
Prachtig, om al deze structuren nu te kunnen herkennen in de wereld om ons heen.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews