What do you think?
Rate this book
Beautiful Geometry
An exquisite visual celebration of the 2,500-year history of geometry
If you've ever thought that mathematics and art don't mix, this stunning visual history of geometry will change your mind. As much a work of art as a book about mathematics, Beautiful Geometry presents more than sixty exquisite color plates illustrating a wide range of geometric patterns and theorems, accompanied by brief accounts of the fascinating history and people behind each. With artwork by Swiss artist Eugen Jost and text by math historian Eli Maor, this unique celebration of geometry covers numerous subjects, from straightedge-and-compass constructions to intriguing configurations involving infinity. The result is a delightful and informative illustrated tour through the 2,500-year-old history of one of the most important branches of mathematics.
If you've ever thought that mathematics and art don't mix, this stunning visual history of geometry will change your mind. As much a work of art as a book about mathematics, Beautiful Geometry presents more than sixty exquisite color plates illustrating a wide range of geometric patterns and theorems, accompanied by brief accounts of the fascinating history and people behind each. With artwork by Swiss artist Eugen Jost and text by math historian Eli Maor, this unique celebration of geometry covers numerous subjects, from straightedge-and-compass constructions to intriguing configurations involving infinity. The result is a delightful and informative illustrated tour through the 2,500-year-old history of one of the most important branches of mathematics.
208 pages, Hardcover
First published December 22, 2013
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
February 16, 2014
On the whole, art/science collaborations make me feel faintly queasy. From the science side there seems to be a puppy-like desperation to be loved and normal. ‘Look, I’m not really a nerd,’ they seem to say, ‘I don’t always speak incomprehensibly in technical jargon. I can do art.’ Meanwhile, the art side seems to have far too much in common with those pedlars of woo who invest their snake oil with (what they think is) scientific gravitas by using terms from quantum physics to dress up their baloney.
So, if I’m honest, I came to this near coffee-table book sized collaboration between a mathematician and an artist with all the enthusiasm of someone on a trip to the dentist. As it happens, my assessment was a little harsh, because the art isn’t allowed to dominate, as is usually the case. Here what we’ve got is a series of short essays on principles of mathematics, each accompanied by a handsome, if fairly basic full page colour art work. So in a way it’s less like one of the dreaded collaborations than a book like 30 Second Maths where you get a mini-exposition accompanied by an illustration (though I have to say the 30 Second illustrations are less geometric and hence usually more interesting).
The advantage this book has over the 30 Second approach is that it allows Eli Maor to give us considerably more text on his topics, so there can be a better exploration and less of the rigid constraint of a format. For some of the topics this is wonderful as they really need more exploration. Lissaojous figures, for instance, and infinite gaskets like the Sierpinski triangle. But to be honest, unless you are a mathematician, it’s hard to get too excited about most of the topics.
Take the opening of the essay on quadrilaterals. ‘Here is a little known jewel of a theorem,’ says Maor, ‘that never fails to amaze me: take any quadrilateral (four sided polygon), connect the midpoints of adjacent sides and – surprise – you’ll get a parallelogram!’ Now, to be honest, my reaction to this was ‘He should get out more.’ Just as only parents could be persuaded their baby is the most amazing thing that ever existed, only a mathematician would find this ‘jewel’ amazing.
So, if you get your kicks from everything from Pythagoras’ theorem (which is so exciting it gets two entries) to Steiner’s porism (no, it’s not infectious), this could be the book for you. But if you don’t, the essays could get a tad tedious in places, and the art, while workmanlike, was never sufficient to make looking at the book worthwhile on its own. It’s a case of ‘Nice try, but it doesn’t work for me.’ It might for you. What do I know about art? But you attempt it at your own risk. (Incidentally, only go for the Kindle book if viewing it on a tablet – a traditional black and white Kindle would lose much of the art’s impact.)
Review first published on www.popularscience.co.uk and contributed here with permission.
So, if I’m honest, I came to this near coffee-table book sized collaboration between a mathematician and an artist with all the enthusiasm of someone on a trip to the dentist. As it happens, my assessment was a little harsh, because the art isn’t allowed to dominate, as is usually the case. Here what we’ve got is a series of short essays on principles of mathematics, each accompanied by a handsome, if fairly basic full page colour art work. So in a way it’s less like one of the dreaded collaborations than a book like 30 Second Maths where you get a mini-exposition accompanied by an illustration (though I have to say the 30 Second illustrations are less geometric and hence usually more interesting).
The advantage this book has over the 30 Second approach is that it allows Eli Maor to give us considerably more text on his topics, so there can be a better exploration and less of the rigid constraint of a format. For some of the topics this is wonderful as they really need more exploration. Lissaojous figures, for instance, and infinite gaskets like the Sierpinski triangle. But to be honest, unless you are a mathematician, it’s hard to get too excited about most of the topics.
Take the opening of the essay on quadrilaterals. ‘Here is a little known jewel of a theorem,’ says Maor, ‘that never fails to amaze me: take any quadrilateral (four sided polygon), connect the midpoints of adjacent sides and – surprise – you’ll get a parallelogram!’ Now, to be honest, my reaction to this was ‘He should get out more.’ Just as only parents could be persuaded their baby is the most amazing thing that ever existed, only a mathematician would find this ‘jewel’ amazing.
So, if you get your kicks from everything from Pythagoras’ theorem (which is so exciting it gets two entries) to Steiner’s porism (no, it’s not infectious), this could be the book for you. But if you don’t, the essays could get a tad tedious in places, and the art, while workmanlike, was never sufficient to make looking at the book worthwhile on its own. It’s a case of ‘Nice try, but it doesn’t work for me.’ It might for you. What do I know about art? But you attempt it at your own risk. (Incidentally, only go for the Kindle book if viewing it on a tablet – a traditional black and white Kindle would lose much of the art’s impact.)
Review first published on www.popularscience.co.uk and contributed here with permission.
December 30, 2017
It is all beautiful that I ended up making some math cards for people for Christmas and new year!
Getting a creative edge to the math theorems was more like a fascinating proof to admire.
Getting a creative edge to the math theorems was more like a fascinating proof to admire.
December 27, 2020
Wow! These geometrical pictures are astonishing! The proofs to accompany the pictures are presented in chronological order, providing a brief history of geometry. Proofs are generally intelligible to people who passed high-school geometry with more complicated proofs exiled to the appendix. On page 8, Maor writes "it is a pity that these little treasures seldom if ever, find their way into our geometry textbooks." Indeed.
October 28, 2018
Beautiful.
Not only does this book is full of images that connect the amazing pure geometry theorems with the picture of its meaning.
Certainly worth a coffee-table perusal.
Not only does this book is full of images that connect the amazing pure geometry theorems with the picture of its meaning.
Certainly worth a coffee-table perusal.
September 10, 2019
Perhaps unfairly, I expected this book to delve more generally into how math has influenced art. In fact, the author presents various mathematical symmetries and theorems, and the artist creates artwork based on them. Each mathematical topic is a chapter, with a few page explanation of the math, a plate of artwork, and often additional drawings.
Although presented clearly and at an introductory level, the math is serious. If you have no interest in math you probably won't enjoy this book, and if you have no basic understanding of math, at least through introductory algebra and geometry, you may have trouble following it.
Likewise, if you don't enjoy art, and specifically art based on symmetrical patterns, the artsy part of the book may not interest you.
Although presented clearly and at an introductory level, the math is serious. If you have no interest in math you probably won't enjoy this book, and if you have no basic understanding of math, at least through introductory algebra and geometry, you may have trouble following it.
Likewise, if you don't enjoy art, and specifically art based on symmetrical patterns, the artsy part of the book may not interest you.
May 27, 2020
A must read for all the Maths lovers not necessarily for the Mathematicians who could probably know all that is there in the book and more.
The book covers a surprising list of theorems (in layman’s words) and explains the proofs for each of them. It also covers the most beautiful formula on earth involving “e”, “pi”, “root i”, 1 and 0. And the best part is that each of the theorems is accompanied by art based on the theorem which is even more wonderful.
The proofs are a surprise for most of the non-mathematicians and it is indeed a wonder on how these were derived and proved in the ancient times.
Wish they make this is at least a reading material in the schools and if not at least in the colleges.
A must read.
The book covers a surprising list of theorems (in layman’s words) and explains the proofs for each of them. It also covers the most beautiful formula on earth involving “e”, “pi”, “root i”, 1 and 0. And the best part is that each of the theorems is accompanied by art based on the theorem which is even more wonderful.
The proofs are a surprise for most of the non-mathematicians and it is indeed a wonder on how these were derived and proved in the ancient times.
Wish they make this is at least a reading material in the schools and if not at least in the colleges.
A must read.
May 14, 2021
Ogni capitolo comprende un po’ di storia, una breve spiegazione e ovviamente una visualizzazione di uno specifico argomento.
I capitoli sono ordinati in ordine cronologico, in base all'argomento.
Le visualizzazioni non sono particolarmente artistiche o esteticamente piacevoli, visto che hanno principalmente l'obiettivo di dimostrare i teoremi e gli enunciati decritti nei vari capitoli.
Purtroppo questo libro non è per tutti. Penso piacerà solo agli amanti della geometria.
I capitoli sono ordinati in ordine cronologico, in base all'argomento.
Le visualizzazioni non sono particolarmente artistiche o esteticamente piacevoli, visto che hanno principalmente l'obiettivo di dimostrare i teoremi e gli enunciati decritti nei vari capitoli.
Purtroppo questo libro non è per tutti. Penso piacerà solo agli amanti della geometria.
September 22, 2023
Quite a fun book, at least for a non mathematician. I was drawn to the number theory aspects of the work but the best part is to both illuminate the profound thinking that goes into geometric form and analysis as well as the artistic and aesthetic elements that suffuse this study. A great book to propel the early math infused mind forward.
July 15, 2019
This book has about 50 short descriptions of math problems/theorems, each with an accompanying painting. Most of the entries about about geometry, and there are proofs of some of the theorems in the appendix. The illustrations are really interesting.
November 7, 2022
Beautiful, as promised. But written in a way that made me remember why geometry hasn’t ever been my jam.
January 28, 2014
Geometry remains one of the most intuitively appealing subfields of Mathematics. However, as anyone who has studied geometry at any length will attest, the visual beauty of geometry oftentimes belies its underlying intellectual complexity. Like in many other parts of Mathematics, sometimes it’s the things that are easy to visualize and state, which can be fiendishly hard to understand and prove.
In “Beautiful Geometry” Eli Maor and Eugen Jost aim to give the reader a sampler of some of the most interesting problems and ideas from the almost three thousand years long history of Geometry. The book is designed to inform and educate the reader, and even though it’s not written as a traditional math textbook, it does require an active engagement on the part of the reader. There are many proofs and other fairly rigorous demonstrations, which, although not terribly long nor complex, do require that the reader is comfortable and used to going through rigorous mathematical reasoning. Many of the proofs can be found in most elementary geometry textbook, but if you are like me you probably haven’t seen them in many, many years and I appreciate a gentle reintroduction to this material. Maor is a great pedagogue, and this is probably as good of an elementary exposition of geometry as they come.
This is a beautifully designed hardbound book that would be right at home in almost any library. However, it doesn’t quite rise to the level of a math “coffee table” book. For one, even the most die-hard math enthusiast will not just casually pick up this book for the most absent-minded perusal. Furthermore the illustrations, although nice enough, have higher pedagogical than artistic value. Most of them are pretty flat and uninspiring, and don’t really make me want to open the book to just look at them. I think a book with a clearer separation between the artistic and educational illustrations, with former chosen based primarily on their artistic merit, would have been more interesting and well suited for this particular format. Nonetheless, I mostly enjoyed going through this book and would recommend it to any genuine math and geometry enthusiast.
In “Beautiful Geometry” Eli Maor and Eugen Jost aim to give the reader a sampler of some of the most interesting problems and ideas from the almost three thousand years long history of Geometry. The book is designed to inform and educate the reader, and even though it’s not written as a traditional math textbook, it does require an active engagement on the part of the reader. There are many proofs and other fairly rigorous demonstrations, which, although not terribly long nor complex, do require that the reader is comfortable and used to going through rigorous mathematical reasoning. Many of the proofs can be found in most elementary geometry textbook, but if you are like me you probably haven’t seen them in many, many years and I appreciate a gentle reintroduction to this material. Maor is a great pedagogue, and this is probably as good of an elementary exposition of geometry as they come.
This is a beautifully designed hardbound book that would be right at home in almost any library. However, it doesn’t quite rise to the level of a math “coffee table” book. For one, even the most die-hard math enthusiast will not just casually pick up this book for the most absent-minded perusal. Furthermore the illustrations, although nice enough, have higher pedagogical than artistic value. Most of them are pretty flat and uninspiring, and don’t really make me want to open the book to just look at them. I think a book with a clearer separation between the artistic and educational illustrations, with former chosen based primarily on their artistic merit, would have been more interesting and well suited for this particular format. Nonetheless, I mostly enjoyed going through this book and would recommend it to any genuine math and geometry enthusiast.
March 28, 2014
Recensione su: http://wp.me/p3X6aw-2v
Review at: http://wp.me/p3X6aw-2v
Review at: http://wp.me/p3X6aw-2v
February 12, 2014
Pretty book, but the math is, boring. They could have written it for a more general audience to engage me. As it is, I slammed the pictures, read most of the early copy, but scanned the rest.
Read
February 28, 2014516 M2969 2014
April 5, 2015
Pretty good book. Contains proofs of some theorems and shows wonderfully illustrated images that demonstrate these ideas.
May 12, 2015
More math and trig than I expected. I did find it though a very interesting read.
January 17, 2016
fun maths!
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews