The Artful Universe Expanded

2. Auflage 2011
ISBN: 978-0-19-960133-2
Verlag: Oxford University Press

Buch, Englisch, 336 Seiten, Format (B × H): 149 mm x 233 mm, Gewicht: 526 g

Examines how our aesthetic preferences are moulded by the physical nature of the Universe
Explores the underlying mathematical relationships and patterns behind art and music and their connections with natural forms
Draws out the ways in which the rhythms of our world - of day and night, and the yearly cycle of seasons - have impinged on the human psyche throughout history
Previous edition sold over 25,000 copies

New to this edition

Eight new sections of text, covering fascinating new areas: 1) The world is not enough: the grand illusion (about multiverses, and whether we might be in a simulated universe, in which case how might we know) 2) Bilateral agreements: appreciating curves (how we have evolved to appreciate symmetry and shapes with particular ratios) 3) Fractal expressionism: the strange case of Jack the Dripper (mathematical analysis shows that we are appreciating deep patterns in Pollock that are not found in other drip paintings) 4) Network news: branching out (the recent discovery of why the ratio of 3/4 crops up in biological relationships - the metabolic rate of different animals plotted against their mass gives a straight line of that slope; it's all to do with supply networks) 5) The Go-Betweenies: messing with Mister In-between (brain size vs body size, intelligence, and what made hominin brains swell) 6) Extrasolar planets: a case of spatial prejudice (over 120 planets orbiting other stars have been discovered in the past 9 years; how do they and their orbits differ from those in our Solar System, and what does this tell us about the conditions necessary for life to evolve?) 7) Mars in your eyes: tthey came from outer space (our historical and current obsession with the possibility of life on Mars) 8) Outward bound: the way of the world (how mathematics has enabled us to understand a universe far beyond our human experience and intuition; and hence why sociologists of science are wrong when they describe science as purely a social construct; this section emphasizes the basic point of the book, with reference to fashionable but mistaken postmodern tendencies)
Over ten new figures, including two additional colour plates in the central colour section
Short updates to text throughout
Stylish new page design, and striking new cover

In The Artful Universe (OUP, 1995) John D. Barrow explored the close ties between our aesthetic appreciation and the basic nature of the Universe, challenging the commonly held view that our sense of beauty is entirely free and unfettered. It looked at some of the unexpected ways in which the structure of the Universe, ist laws, ist environments, and above all ist underlying mathematical structure imprints itself on our thoughts, our aesthetic preferences, and our views about the nature of things. The exploration embraced topics such as perspective; the size of things and the origins of aesthetics; computer art (posing the question: is it art?); and the origins of our susceptibility to music. Life sales of the hardback totalled just over 25,000 copies.

The study of the evolutionary and mathematical underpinnings of our aesthetic sense, and our understanding of the nature and scale of the universe has grown over the past decade, with developments in evolutionary psychology, and in cosmology. This paperback of the revised edition (OUP, 2005) contains eight new sections covering the recent discoveries of extrasolar planets, fashionable postmodernist rejection of science as uncovering objective reality, growing understanding of key ratios appearing in biological relationships, and studies of the underlying mathematical structure of a Pollock painting.

Zielgruppe

Readers of popular science, science and technology, art, art theory, chaos theory, natural history.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Barrow, John

Fachgebiete

• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften Interdisziplinär Naturwissenschaften, Technik, Medizin
• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften: Allgemeines Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften, Formalen Wissenschaften & Technik
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Ästhetik
• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften: Allgemeines Populärwissenschaftliche Werke
• Geisteswissenschaften Kunst Kunst, allgemein Kunsttheorie, Kunstphilosophie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1: Tales of the unexpected
2: The impact of evolution
3: Size, life, and landscape
4: The heavens and the Earth
5: The natural history of noise
6: All's well that ends well

Über Autor(innen)

Barrow, John
John Barrow, Professor of Mathematical Sciences, University of Cambridge

Professor John D. Barrow, FRS, is Professor of Mathematical Sciences and Director of the Millenium Mathematics Project at the University of Cambridge. His principal area of scientific research is cosmology, and he is the author of many highly acclaimed books about the nature and significance of modern developments in physics, astronomy, and mathematics, including The Left Hand of Creation, The Anthropic Cosmological Principle, The Infinite Book: a short guide to the boundless, timeless and endless and most recently, 100 Essential Things You Didn't Know: Maths Explains Your World.