Customer Reviews

The Visual Guide To Extra Dimensions: Visualizing The Fourth Dimension, Higher-Dimensional Polytopes, And Curved Hypersurfaces

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* I was pleasantly surprised at the number and quality of diagrams included in this book on the fourth dimension. Many diagrams were instructive. They helped me visualize 4D objects, making the fourth dimension seem somewhat less abstract.
* This was the first time that I can recall seeing 4D graphs of hypersurfaces. This includes the cubinder, spherinder, hypercones, hyperparaboloids, hyperhyperboloids, and hypertori. The following chapter, A Hypothetical Hyperuniverse, describes possible 4D objects, machines, and beings in terms of such hypersurfaces. Put together, I can almost imagine a 4D world.
* There is also a very detailed chapter on objects with flat surfaces, called polytopes (such as the hypercube). The hypercube is analyzed extensively. The simplex and less common polytopes are also included. There are some neat features here, such as diagrams that break down the icositetrachoron.
* I've never found a book on the fourth dimension that suits me perfectly (I can always find something that I would like to change), but there was much that I enjoyed about this book. I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys thinking about 4D objects.
* I also recommend Rudy Rucker's classic introduction, The 4th Dimension: Toward a Geometry of Higher Reality. Every fan of the fourth dimension should also read Edwin Abbott's Flatland a Romance of Many Dimensions - Edwin Abbott.

Finally, a book focused entirely on the mathematical aspect of the fourth dimension, not going off on tangents on religion or spirituality. Loved this two volume set. Especially the diagrams of volume 1. Tons of helpful line drawings and graphs. Some diagrams I had never seen before. Very accessible level for any reader, but still detailed enough to satisfy my background in mathematics. Highly recommend, well worth reading!

These two volumes of "The Visual Guide To Extra Dimensions" are excellent in the field of extra dimension. Dr Chris McMullen gives a detailed mathematical as well as graphical explanation in discussion of fourth spatial dimension. The two volumes, as mentioned also in the other comment, keep distance from common spiritual discussions and remain fully on scientific grounds.
Should fourth dimension gain a serious role in science in future, these two volumes should be considered as a reference book.