Customer Reviews

An Eye For Fractals: A Graphic And Photographic Essay (Studies in Nonlinearity)

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One of the only fractal books available for non-mathematicians, An Eye for Fractals interweaves beautiful photographs of natural scenes with explanations of their fractal geometric characteristics. It gives enough information about fractals for a beginner to understand what they are and how they apply to nature. Its photography makes it a perfect book to leave out on the coffee table.

Fractal geometry is revolutionizing the way that scientists perceive the universe and its underlying order. Anyone can benefit greatly from this understanding by reading this book.

I just got this book from the library. It many well printed BW photographs. There is some math discussion on fractals but there is no discussion of computer software for generating fractals pictures. Still a great book.

I was aware of fractals for some time and after watching a NOVA film "Hunting the Hidden Dimension" (2008). I went hunting for some of the many books by Benoit Mandelbrot. You can imagine my surprise with I tripped over this book, "An Eye for Fractals" by Michael McGuire.

Stacked up against other fractal works, this book has more stunning pictures both in quantity and quality. Even though the formulas are a tad complex with number lines and complex planes, the ideas on how to make and see fractals are quite clear.

If we were not enamored with fractal the book would stand on its own as great monochrome depictions of nature and monuments. There is one picture by Ansel Adams and the rest are by M McGuire. If you did not see the titles I challenge you to find the Adams picture.

Every time I read this book I get a different insight into the world of fractals and believe you will also.

Fractals: Hunting the Hidden Dimension (Blu-ray) [Blu-ray]

Looking around in nature, it is easy to find examples of fractals. Individual plants, forests, volcanic activity, wind and water erosion, the flow of water and the movement of plants with the wind can all be described by an appropriate fractal function. Most of the pages of this book are taken up with spectacular images of such natural fractals. A few of the pages are devoted to the mathematical background used to generate the images. It is not rigorous; it was the author's intention to only give some of the general ideas rather than a complete description. They are understandable, even if your math background stops at algebra. Although it was written in 1991, this book is still an excellent primer on what fractals are as well as the large number of ways that they appear in nature.