Customer Reviews

The Music of Pythagoras: How an Ancient Brotherhood Cracked the Code of the Universe and Lit the Path from Antiquity to Outer Space

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For anyone who has an interest in how Pythagoras affected the Western World, this is definitely a book to have. I've been studying Pythagoras for a few years, and most of the information that Ferguson points out is information that I had to gather piece by piece from separate sources. So it's nice to have one consolidating source with which to corroborate my own research. The book also avoids any of the flighty influences that have been heaped on Pythagoras, choosing instead to take what usually is an even road right down the middle. Most of the time, at least. When Ferguson has to inevitably address the more controversial topics about The West and parity of credit with The Rest, she veers of the road, with her compass pointing her West. For instance, Pythagoras -- like the Egyptians -- has virtually no surviving records of his mathematics. He never wrote anything down, and forbid his followers to do otherwise. Our esteem for the phantom mathematics of both Pythagoras and the Egyptians, come from words written by later Greek enthusiasts. Ferguson, like most Western educators, seem to take these enthusiasts at their word when heaping praises upon Pythagoras, but lose confidence as the same enthusiasts credit the Egyptians with many of his ideas. Ferguson even attempts to build a historical case against claims that Pythagoras spent anytime abroad long enough to learn anything worthwhile. It's a feeble attempt since, any "historical evidence" is based on a man who is mostly myth and legend.

To her credit she doesn't belabor any of her counter-points, choosing instead to side-step them and stay on the path of following the domino's as they fall forward in time.

For readers who want to keep going in their study of Pythagoras, I'd strongly recommend "The Pythagorean Sourcebook." In this book you'll find many of the complete texts mentioned in Ferguson's book, including those of Philolaus and Iamblichus. The introduction is also very fair and balanced when looking at the plausible origins of Pythagoras' philsophies.

Though Pythagoras preoccupied himself with the study of number, this book is an editorial walk through HISTORY. The review by "Barbara And Byron Skinner", which asks the author to "use math to illustrate your topics," apparently missed that Ferguson has written a historical narrative. This book is not a math book, and I'm not sure I ever got the impression that it claimed to be. Nor did I find any examples in any of the chapters that necessitate math demonstrations to supplement the narrative.

As the title says, this is a book about the "Music" of Pythagoras; and is concerned with the biographical, musical, and philosophical aspects of the Pythagoreans. If one is looking for a more mathematical treatment, see Maor's "The Pythagorean Theorem." A few of the chapter subtitles reveal the tone of the book, "At the hinge of legend and history," "All things known have number," "Plato's Search for Pythagoras," "Wherein Nature shows herself most excellent and complete," "'While the morning stars sang together': Johannes Kepler," and "The Labyrinths of Simplicity."

The reading was a little slow going midway, addressing the weight of previous scholarship. One senses an extra effort to be fair-minded, but the upside result of this deliberation was a more intense focus on what is essential and relevant about Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans today. This carries us far beyond the "series of facts" mentioned by the editorial review from Publishers Weekly. The last few chapters are the best, written with wit and insight. Pythagoras appears through the contrasting viewpoints, questions, and speculations by musician and author Kitty Ferguson. Arthur Koestler sums it up with a quote about the Pythagorean vision, "Cosmic wonder and aesthetic delight no longer live apart from the exercise of reason."

Some mathematicians tend to write dismissive works such as Bell's "The Magic of Numbers" or Dudley's "Numerology: Or, What Pythagoras Wrought." And some philosophers tend to be overly critical, e.g. Bertrand Russell. It is among musicians where you generally find the true spirit of Pythagoras, and the in-depth research of the code mentioned in the subtitle.

From the excellent references in Guthrie's "The Pythagorean Sourcebook and Library" and Godwin's "The Harmony of the Spheres: A Sourcebook of the Pythagorean Tradition in Music" one can find the work of Thimus, Kayser, Haase, and other musicians. Many scientists from Newton to Einstein have also embraced much of the Pythagorean legacy of an order and harmony in the foundational nature of the universe. The deeper mathematical code is perhaps too esoteric for general readership, see Bamford's "Homage to Pythagoras"; and from musicians Ernest McClain and William B. Conner, deeper explorations. And authors who go even further, Manly P. Hall and Franklin Merrell-Wolff.

Rather than begin her investigation with a historicist assessment of the non-existent facts, Ferguson holds fast to the reality of Pythagoras, that is, his legacy. In a field where reasoned conjecture is unavoidable, Kitty Ferguson presents a balanced view of the evidence. She integrates the findings of recent classical scholarship, such as Kahn (2001) and Burkert (1972), and manages to escape the dogmatism that normally surrounds academic commnetary on Pythagoras. A remarkable aachievement.

Kitty Ferguson is a wonderful writer who tackles the mysterious Pythagoras, his concept of the Music of the Spheres and shows how his discovery of the musical overtone series is a part of everything that we have and everything that we do. I highly recommend this book to not only musicians, but to everyone!

Right on! A timely book with the proper conclusions....
The essence of Pythagoras and his school, in my humble opinion was the understanding that numbers, letters (remember that the Hebrew alphabet's letters ARE actual numerical values), colors, Music, are all vibrate and this vibration effects our universe in more profound ways that we actually understand. These vibrations are the manifestation and the cause of much secrets, that we are only beginning to see, with the advent of math and quantum physics. This is the basis of the "secret" of Pythagoras that this book's author conveys in her eloquent and timely book. Pythagoras was not just about the math or the hegemony of western civilization (as some nuts vehemently claim). He understood this important connection, VIBRATIONS. This is essentially the conclusion of many other works, Kabbalistic, New Age etc etc. When one focuses only on one facet of the Ancient Wisdom, it is akin to take a few segments of an orange and claiming to have the "whole orange expereince"...see my DVD, The Secret of Pythagoras

Kitty Ferguson has written a fascinating and well-researched account of Pythagoras and his work. From a small amount of information, she has painted a picture of the man, his times, and most importantly, his incredible influence over the years. In a continuous flow of philosophers, mathematicians, and astronomers, Pythagoras seems to have lived through each one to usher his ideas into succeeding periods of history. Amazingly, even his detractors managed to further his ideas and the spirit behind them. The book reminds me that great ideas and creativity are never lost but continue through our selves and others.

One of the most intriguing thinkers to ever appear, Pythagoras and his life remain shrouded in mystique. Did he make groundbreaking discoveries in mathematics and music, or was he simply a secretive cult leader? Or a combination of both? As Kitty Ferguson's review of the historical record highlights, these are questions to which we will never know the answers, since we possess almost nothing on Pythagoras' actual life. But we are nevertheless fascinated by ideas and view him as one of the formative thinkers in the Western tradition. So how are we influenced today by those very ideas?
The title promises that we will learn how Pythagoras and his music lit the path to outer space. Ferguson does not really make good on that promise. We would expect to find out how Pythagoras influenced later thought even when his specific doctrines were not mentioned. Do we perceive nature or music differently because of that school of thought? How specifically have the ideas we call Pythagorean helped us reach outer space, or achieve any other scientific goal? These and other questions are not answered.
Instead Ferguson takes us on a journey through millenia of philosophers and scientists and shows how they all explicitly cited Pythagorean notions and how that contributed to their own beliefs and methods of discovery. Rather than demonstrating how the ideas themselves influenced later thought, we are shown that great thinkers were personally affected by those ideas.
Ferguson also points out how Pythagorean principles were formed-they don't necessarily stem from Pythagoras. Over the centuries certain notions became known as Pythagorean, although they originated earlier-the Pythagorean theorem-or were later interpretations.
It is an interesting book for people who like to trace the evolution and transmittal of ideas through history, but maybe not for those who want to know about Pythagoras' influence.

It's rather hard to describe this book. The author Kitty Ferguson attempts to write a book dealing with mathmatics without using any math, at best these efforts are dicey and Ms. Ferguson has created another flawed effort.

The book basicly take the reader from Pythagoras as a starting point of moderm mathmatics which is reasonable, although as the author states the usages of math predates Pythagoras with at least the Egypt ten centuries before Pythagoras. But since there is no documention of what the Egyptons did only some engineering examples it's hard to say what they knew and how. From there on she follows the journey of math through the Greeks (Plato/Aristotle, Romans (Pliny the Elder/Plutarch), the Dark Ages etc. The effort are the quest for some kind of universal theory which has yet to be found, that covers everything.

Although the author trys to avoid religion in most of her argurments don't be surprised to see this text as being used by groups trying to promote Intelligent Design.

In short I guess is that if you are going write about math, use math to illustrate your topics.