Cymatics: A Study of Wave Phenomena & Vibration [Hardcover]

Hans Jenny (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 295 pages
• Publisher: Macromedia; 3rd edition (July 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1888138076
• ISBN-13: 978-1888138078
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 9.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #290,395 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #49 in Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Physics > Waves & Wave Mechanics

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a wonderful book., October 28, 2004

By 

Seth Cluett "sound: theory - practice" (paris, france) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cymatics: A Study of Wave Phenomena & Vibration (Hardcover)

Dr. Jenny was a thorough and detailed researcher and it shows in this book. Not meant to be a study in fluid dynamic or wave propagation physics though, if you're looking for that, try the "Album of Fluid Motion" by Milton Van Dyke. This book's beautifully photographed matter trasformations through sound and Van Dykes explainations would be a wonderful pairing.

68 of 82 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A Compendium of Examples of Sound Phenomena, June 22, 2004

By 

Peter Baum (Onset, MA USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Cymatics: A Study of Wave Phenomena & Vibration (Hardcover)

I first became interested in the patterns sound can generate on the surface of a liquid when I observed beautiful patterns on the surface of a thin layer of water caused by vibrations from the disposal unit of my kitchen sink. I was easily able to reproduce these same patterns as well as others by placing an inverted plastic lid containing a few millimeters of water over a speaker. A function generator attached to an amplifier was used to drive the speaker. It was my search for previous research of this phenomenon that led to the discovery of Hans Jenny's two-volume work titled "Cymatics." On the positive side, this set shows many examples of patterns generated by sound in various media and using various techniques. As such, it represents a nice compendium of examples, and the photographs are visually appealing. However, the work does not represent scientific research into this phenomenon in the modern sense but is more like the exploratory research and categorizing done by the ancient Greeks. No theory is presented that explains the phenomena in terms of mechanics or dynamics and no predictions are made based on theory or observation. For such a modern scientific approach, one needs to look elsewhere. There is some information about this currently active scientific field on the Internet: use search terms such as "capillary waves" and "acoustic flow."

21 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A facinating exploration into sound, August 13, 2005

By 

Pen Name "~P.E.N." (Higher State of Consciousness) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cymatics: A Study of Wave Phenomena & Vibration (Hardcover)

For anyone that has ever incorporated the use of sound into their practice of healing modalities this book will provide you with a deeper connection between the physical and the metaphysical. The book is written from a rather scientific standpoint so don't expect a discussion on higher consciousness. However if you've ever considered the importance of a visualization in the use of sacred geometry such as ancient mandalas for meditation or energy projection you will find that nature manfiests through these scientic explorations and to some extent may validate some people's belief that simply because we cannot see things doesn't mean they are not there.