Quadrivium: The Four Classical Liberal Arts of Number, Geometry, Music, & Cosmology (Wooden Books) [Hardcover]

Miranda Lundy (Author), Anthony Ashton (Author), Dr. Jason Martineau (Author), Daud Sutton (Author), John Martineau (Author)

Book Description

Release date: October 26, 2010 | ISBN-10: 0802778135 | ISBN-13: 978-0802778130

The quadrivium—the classical curriculum—comprises the four liberal arts of number, geometry, music, and cosmology. It was studied from antiquity to the Renaissance as a way of glimpsing the nature of reality. Geometry is number in space; music is number in time; and comology expresses number in space and time. Number, music, and geometry are metaphysical truths: life across the universe investigates them; they foreshadow the physical sciences.

Quadrivium is the first volume to bring together these four subjects in many hundreds of years. Composed of six successful titles in the Wooden Books series—Sacred Geometry, Sacred Number, Harmonograph, The Elements of Music, Platonic & Archimedean Solids, and A Little Book of Coincidence—it makes ancient wisdom and its astonishing interconnectedness accessible to us today.

Beautifully produced in six different colors of ink, Quadrivium will appeal to anyone interested in mathematics, music, astronomy, and how the universe works.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

The five authors whose books comprise QUADRIVIUM are Miranda Lundy, Anthony Ashton,, Jason Martineau, Daud Sutton, and John Martineau.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Walker & Company (October 26, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802778135
• ISBN-13: 978-0802778130
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 6.2 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #13,009 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #18 in Books > Arts & Photography > Music > History & Criticism
  • #93 in Books > Science & Math > History & Philosophy

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

78 of 78 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Couldn't be happier December 14, 2010

By Nick Heller

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I am thrilled with this edition. I own The Golden Section and Ruler and Compass, which I love. They don't delve deeply into their subjects, but they cover an incredible breadth of topics. You can read them cover to cover, or you can just open up to any page and find all sorts of treasures in the text and illustrations. Quadrivium is a collection of 6 books from Wooden Press, Sacred Geometry, Sacred Number, Harmonograph, The Elements of Music, Platonic & Archimedean Solids, and A Little Book of Coincidence... the value alone is unbelievable, as each of these books retails $12... Quadrivium retails $20 and Amazon sells it for $12, so its basically a 6 for 1 deal. I've quoted Quadrivium in school papers, found inspiration in it for art class, and I pick it up in my spare time because it is so interesting. I highly recommend this to people of all ages, it makes a wonderful addition to any library.

33 of 35 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing Quadrivium January 23, 2011

By Steve Frushour

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

What a compilation of ideas and coincidences to be found in our amazing world. We walk dumbly around without noticing the simplest of things, things that, on closer scrutiny, seem utterly miraculous. Even more amazing is that some of the concepts described in the Quadrivium were discovered and described thousands of years ago by ancient cultures that no longer exist (others mere centuries). Nevertheless, to understand the Quadrivium is to gain insight on our universe, our humanity and our relationship with our divinity.
Quadrivium: The Four Classical Liberal Arts of Number, Geometry, Music, & Cosmology (Wooden Books)
SF

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Mind blowing and easy to absorb. July 20, 2011

By Chris

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

This book has amazing art on every other page, has a beautiful hardcover and helped me make connections that I probably never would have. This book is amazing if you have 5 minutes or 5 hours, each concept is done on a single page followed by a visual representation of the material on the other page.

Plus, its a great price, may buy another and donate it to the local library.

31 of 40 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Needs more detachment and less New Age woo June 6, 2011

By Jonathan Badger

Format:Hardcover

I picked up this book because I am fascinated by the Classical and Medieval world, and especially by things like the Quadrivium which represent survivals of Classicism in the Medieval period. On the other hand, I realize that much of their world view was based on things which we now know to be false, and the appropriate way to frame discussion of these subjects would be be say things like "It was thought that..." or "It was believed...". Instead, the book is written as if things like the supposed mystical nature of the number ten were literally true. I could understand this if the book was written "in character" as if a Medieval person was writing it, but things like the ten steps of the DNA helix are mentioned, which obviously nobody knew about when the Quadrivium was taught. Presumably the reason for including such modern coincidences is to suggest that the mystical view of number has real validity. But that turns an interesting historical book into a New Age tract.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Bite Sized September 18, 2011

By Jacob Parker

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

If you are familiar with Wooden Books, you know that they never delve deeply into information. They simply skim the surface of a wide array of subjects, introducing things that you can research on your own. And I don't say that as a bad thing. I have already learned a lot, simply skimming through. I loved it.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars More New Age fluff with lots of drawings October 18, 2012

By R. Clampitt

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I picked up the book hoping was actually about Quadrivium and instead got a New Age woo woo reformulation of it with lots of nice drawings. And you won't learn much from it, the sections are all pretty superficial in the treatment of the subjects they cover - usually one page and a drawing. A serious drawback is that it suffers from a lack of reference material for people who want to go deeper into these subjects and there are no exercises to help a reader explore items of interest.

The part I liked best was the Appendices & Index. There is a lot of interesting information back there.

Overall the book is well put together and polished. Hats off to the publisher.

Whose the book for? Someone curious about the subjects presented in this book who doesn't want too much information up front, you will like it. It's also a neat coffee table book.

Anyone else looking for a thorough examination of the subjects covered in the book need to look else where.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Good Coffee table book August 9, 2011

By SG

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I recently got curious & interested in the Liberal Arts & so purchased the Quadrivium. Although nicely explained I wish the topics were more in detail. The Geometry, Number & the Universe are briefly explained but I would have understood better if it was in more detail! It makes a good coffee table book or a gift to anyone interested.

4.0 out of 5 stars Small doses of knowledge. April 20, 2013

By T. Birkeland

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Great book with thorough illustrations, many made to look the like wood-block prints. Instructional and clear doses of factual knowledge.
My only complaint is that my book has the cover fixed the wrong way, that is upside down compared to the contents.