Fearful Symmetry: Is God a Geometer? [Hardcover]

Ian Stewart (Author), Martin Golubitsky (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1992

This sequel to the bestselling Does God Play Dice? will open your eyes to the broken symmetries that lie all around you, from the shapes of clouds to the drops of dew on a spider's web, from centipedes to corn circles. It will take you to the farthest reaches of the universe and bring you face-to-face with some of the deepest questions of modern physics.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This book's central theme involves two remarkably nonintuitive facts. First, a completely symmetric plane looks the same at every point and from every angle. We find this uninteresting and pay it no heed. Thus, what we detect as symmetry is, in fact, those symmetries that remain after the greater symmetry has been broken. Second, the study of symmetry is really the study of groups of transformations. Stewart ( Does God Play Dice? , Blackwell Pubs., 1989) and Golubitsky (mathematics, Univ. of Houston) show how these modern mathematical concepts can be used to describe many of the most interesting features of the physical and biological world. This is not an easy book but well worth the effort. For larger science collections.
- Harold D. Shane, Baruch Coll. , CUNY
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 287 pages
• Publisher: Blackwell Pub (June 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0631182519
• ISBN-13: 978-0631182511
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,330,132 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Breaking symmetry to uncover one theory that rules them all, November 24, 2002

By 

Geert Daelemans (Leuven Belgium) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fearful Symmetry: Is God a Geometer? (Penguin Science) (Mass Market Paperback)

Breaking Symmetry is certainly a magic term in this book. With the use of innumerable real-life examples and the use of dozens of pictures Stewart and Golubitsky try to illustrate the basic concept of the "Theory-That-Covers-Everything". Being confronted with the dissection of physical phenomenon into degrees of symmetry, gives the reader enough reason to believe that the "big theory" might ultimately be uncovered by using the mathematical tool of Breaking Symmetry. But this book also points out that scientists are still far away from reaching this ultimate goal.

The patterns discussed in this book takes you to the invisible world of quarks, then shows you the wonderful stripes on the fur of a tiger and finally let you surf the spiral-arms of our Galaxy. Clearly it gives the reader the opportunity to have a taste from more than one scientific discipline: Biology, Physic, Chemistry, Maths, they are all addressed in this book.

But be aware: you must keep yourself very alert while reading it, because the train of thought is not always easy to follow. Apart from the sometimes strange jumps, the narration is very clear and easy to understand, which will certainly enable you to get more insight into the fascinating world of symmetry.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars AN EARFUL ON SYMETRY AND AN EYEFUL AS WELL, August 16, 2000

By 

"thirteenthfairy" (, N.S.W. Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fearful Symmetry: Is God a Geometer? (Hardcover)

This book really improved my understanding of what physicists are talking about when they speak of Symmetry Breaking. The book makes it possible for you to understand the underpinnings of this concept whilst doing nothing more intellectual than pouring the milk onto your breakfast cereal. Lots of good illustrations.Nothing to be frightened of in this book.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Breaking of Symmetry, the Royal road leading us to divine wisdom, August 6, 2011

By 

Didaskalex "Eusebius Alexandrinus" (Kellia on Calvary, Carolina, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Fearful Symmetry: Is God a Geometer? (Paperback)

*****
"Tiger, tiger, burning bright: In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye: Could frame thy fearful symmetry?" -- William Blake



Fearful symmetry? William Blake, alluded to the beauty of the fearful tiger! Nature's patterns are a source of inspiration and awe; though with numerous scientific problems. Philosophers and scientists, impressed by the natural world's prevalent patterns, have declared God a master mathematician. King Ptolemy inquired, somewhat attentively, after Euclid had shown him his treatise on geometry, "Cannot the problems be made easier?" to which the geometer replied, "There is no royal road to geometry." This is true when applied to Symmetry, itself, a royal road leading us to divine wisdom, if we will but perceive its meaning and grasp its ideas . Have you ever wondered why tigers have stripes but leopards have spots? Did it ever occur to you that snails are seldom left-handed? If chaos is the signature of a Dicing Deity, then symmetry is the signature of a Geometer God.

Symmetry exists in all facets of life, and we see it as a manifestation of harmony and beauty by proportionality and balance that aesthetics imparts. This accessible book employs the mathematical concepts of symmetry to portray fascinating aspects of the physical and biological world. Paradoxically, it is the breaking of symmetry that is responsible for many of nature's patterns. Fearful Symmetry will zoom your focus on the broken symmetries that lie all around us, from the shapes in the clouds to the silken lines of a spider's web, from the hoof beats of a galloping horse to the sparkling surfaces of a diamond. It will take your imagination into the microsphere of the atom, where broken symmetry controls the quantum forces of nature; and to the farthest reaches of the galaxies, where black holes cast doubt on current theories of the universe. It will bring you face to face with the deepest mysteries of cosmic science: the origins of biological form, a Clue to the left-handed protein root of life on earth.

Almost a decade after his amazing historical overview of nonlinear science in, "Does God play dice?" comes Ian Stewart's "Is God a Geometer," full of brisk ideas and a fascinating expounding, while introducing the concept of Breaking Symmetry! The authors provide an introduction to symmetry within basic group theory in the early chapters, for readers who did not acquire a background in mathematics, but you don't need much mathematics to drive you through the book. Group Theory is a mathematical method by which aspects of molecular symmetry can be determined, revealing information about its properties like structure, spectra, and polarity. The following chapters explore the application of such ideas to various fields of natural forms, crystals, astronomy, molecular biology, and animal canter, trot, or walk. There is a discussion on the relationship between symmetry and chaos, and finally a philosophical debate on the extent to which symmetry is in the mind of the beholder, and does it mean us or the intelligent Designer?

Recently Golubitsky has focused his efforts on how symmetry and chaos combine to generate a new method for pattern formation. The two authors were drawn together by a common interest in the application of new mathematical concepts to scientific problems, working together for a year in Texas, collaborating on various projects ever since.