Random House New Releases - Mathematics - Recreations & Games

Paradox by Jim Al-Khalili

2012-10-23T00:30:00-05:00

Paradox The Nine Greatest Enigmas in Physics
Written by Jim Al-Khalili

Trade Paperback, 256 pages | Broadway Books | Science - Physics; Games - Logic & Brain Teasers; Mathematics - Recreations & Games | $15.00 | 978-0-307-98679-5 (0-307-98679-9)

A fun and fascinating look at great scientific paradoxes.

Throughout history, scientists have come up with theories and ideas that just don't seem to make sense. These we call paradoxes. The paradoxes Al-Khalili offers are drawn chiefly from physics and astronomy and represent those that have stumped some of the finest minds. For example, how can a cat be both dead and alive at the same time? Why will Achilles never beat a tortoise in a race, no matter how fast he runs? And how can a person be ten years older than his twin?

With elegant explanations that bring the reader inside the mind of those who've developed them, Al-Khalili helps us to see that, in fact, paradoxes can be solved if seen from the right angle. Just as surely as Al-Khalili narrates the enduring fascination of these classic paradoxes, he reveals their underlying logic. In doing so, he brings to life a select group of the most exciting concepts in human knowledge. Paradox is mind-expanding fun.

Paradox by Jim Al-Khalili

2012-10-23T00:30:00-05:00

Paradox The Nine Greatest Enigmas in Physics
Written by Jim Al-Khalili

eBook, 256 pages | Broadway Books | Science - Physics; Games - Logic & Brain Teasers; Mathematics - Recreations & Games | $11.99 | 978-0-307-98680-1 (0-307-98680-2)

The Power of Limits by Gyorgy Doczi

2005-10-11T00:30:00-05:00

The Power of Limits Proportional Harmonies in Nature, Art, and Architecture
Written by Gyorgy Doczi

Trade Paperback, 160 pages | Shambhala | Art - History; Mathematics - Recreations & Games; Nature - Essays | $29.95 | 978-1-59030-259-0 (1-59030-259-1)

One of the delights of life is the discovery and rediscovery of patterns of order and beauty in nature—designs revealed by slicing through a head of cabbage or an orange, the forms of shells and butterfly wings. These images are awesome not just for their beauty alone, but because they suggest an order underlying their growth, a harmony existing in nature. What does it mean that such an order exists; how far does it extend?

The Power of Limits was inspired by those simple discoveries of harmony. The author went on to investigate and measure hundreds of patterns—ancient and modern, minute and vast. His discovery, vividly illustrated here, is that certain proportions occur over and over again in all these forms. Patterns are also repeated in how things grow and are made—by the dynamic union of opposites—as demonstrated by the spirals that move in opposite directions in the growth of a plant.

The joining of unity and diversity in the discipline of proportional limitations creates forms that are beautiful to us because they embody the principles of the cosmic order of which we are a part; conversely, the limitlessness of that order is revealed by the strictness of its forms. The author shows how we, as humans, are included in the universal harmony of form, and suggests that the union of complementary opposites may be a way to extend that harmony to the psychological and social realms as well.

Random House New Releases - Mathematics - Recreations & Games

Paradox by Jim Al-Khalili

Paradox The Nine Greatest Enigmas in PhysicsWritten by Jim Al-Khalili

Paradox by Jim Al-Khalili

Paradox The Nine Greatest Enigmas in PhysicsWritten by Jim Al-Khalili

The Power of Limits by Gyorgy Doczi

The Power of Limits Proportional Harmonies in Nature, Art, and ArchitectureWritten by Gyorgy Doczi

Paradox The Nine Greatest Enigmas in Physics
Written by Jim Al-Khalili

Paradox The Nine Greatest Enigmas in Physics
Written by Jim Al-Khalili

The Power of Limits Proportional Harmonies in Nature, Art, and Architecture
Written by Gyorgy Doczi