Customer Reviews

Symmetry Discovered: Concepts and Applications in Nature and Science

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Pierre Curie developed the idea of symmetry in 1894. He later won the Nobel Prize with his wife Marie for their studies of radioactivity. But Pierre Curie's greatest legacy may end up being his work on symmetry, which forms a rare link between science and art. But symmetry is a complex subject for general readers, as illustrated by the following concise definition of it: Physical processes require environmental dissymmetry, and although the symmetry of a product can exceed that of its cause, any dissymmetry of a product must have existed in its cause. The value of Rosen's book Symmetry Discovered is its success in reducing the complexity of the subject. Cambridge University Press originally published the book, and this edition is a reprint with a new preface and supplemental references including an English-language treatise from the Moscow University symmetry school, world center for this topic. Symmetry Discovered is an easily understood beginner's manual.

When it was first published in 1975, this book filled a gap in the literature. It still does. Simple and unassuming, it is the best introduction to symmetry that I ever read. A perfect introduction to the two subsequent books by Rosen himself, and to more advanced treatises, like Weyl's.

This is a very slim book which could be a first introduction to symmetry. It has a good introduction to group theory, which is the principal branch of mathematics that deals with the topics needed to understand symmetry, and it covers some types of symmetries usually neglected, like color symmetry. It's not at a very high level, which is good if you're starting off, but not if you already have a good dose of the necessary material. In other words, this is an introductory book and will not satisfy you if you are looking for a more advanced text, but I recommend it as a first book.