The Mobius Strip: Dr. August Mobius's Marvelous Band in Mathematics, Games, Literature, Art, Technology, and Cosmology

by Clifford A. Pickover (Author)

17 customer reviews

ISBN-13: 978-1560258261

ISBN-10: 1560258268

Why is ISBN important?

Have one to sell? Sell on Amazon

Buy used

$9.46

Condition: Used - Good

In Stock. Sold by Gold Beach Distributors, Fulfilled by Amazon

Condition: Used: Good

Comment: Fast Amazon shipping plus a hassle free return policy mean your satisfaction is guaranteed! Good readable copy. Worn edges and covers and may have small creases. Otherwise item is in good condition.

Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.

26 Used from $3.60

Turn on 1-Click ordering

More Buying Choices

11 New from $24.15 26 Used from $3.60

37 used & new from $3.60

See All Buying Options

Free%20Two-Day%20Shipping%20for%20College%20Students%20with%20Amazon%20Student

The road that leads from the Möbius strip—a common-sense-defying continuous loop with only one side and one edge, made famous by the illustrations of M.C. Escher—goes to some of the strangest spots imaginable. It takes us to a place where the purely intellectual enters our daily world: where our outraged senses, overloaded with grocery bills, the price of gas, and what to eat for lunch, are expected to absorb really bizarre ideas. And no better guide to this weird universe exists than the brilliant thinker Clifford A. Pickover, the 21st century's answer to Buckminster Fuller.

Come along as Pickover traces the origins of the Möbius strip from the mid-1800s, when the visionary scientist Dr. August Möbius became the first to describe the properties of one-sided surfaces, to the present, where it is an integral part of mathematics, magic, science, art, engineering, literature, and music. It has become a metaphor for change, strangeness, looping, and rejuvenation.

Touching on everything from molecules and metal sculptures to postage stamps, architectural structures, and models of our entire universe, The Möbius Strip is lavishly illustrated and gives readers a glimpse into other worlds and new ways of thinking as Pickover reaches across cultures and dimensions.

The Mobius Strip: Dr. August Mobius's Marvelous Band in Mathematics, Games, Literature, Art, Technology, and Cosmology

Available from these sellers.

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

This shopping feature will continue to load items. In order to navigate out of this carousel please use your heading shortcut key to navigate to the next or previous heading.

Clifford A. Pickover

73

Paperback
$13.84
Clifford Pickover

27

Hardcover
$21.73
Clifford A. Pickover

17

Paperback
$16.91
Manfred Robert…

20

Hardcover
Clifford A. Pickover

55

Hardcover
$20.46
Ian Stewart

9

Paperback
$13.44

NO_CONTENT_IN_FEATURE

Product Details

Hardcover: 304 pages
Publisher: Thunder's Mouth Press (April 7, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1560258268
ISBN-13: 978-1560258261
Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 6.4 x 0.9 inches
Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,822,031 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1654 in Books > Science & Math > Astronomy & Space Science > Cosmology
- #8326 in Books > Science & Math > History & Philosophy
- #19659 in Books > Science & Math > Physics

Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

Customer Reviews

4.8 out of 5 stars

5 star		82%
4 star		18%
3 star		0%
2 star		0%
1 star		0%

See all 17 customer reviews

Share your thoughts with other customers

Write a customer review

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful

A Gateway to Higher Dimensions

By Paul Moskowitz TOP 1000 REVIEWER on April 18, 2006

Format: Hardcover

The Mobius strip, the object, is itself seemingly simple. To make one is easy: take a strip of paper, give one end a half twist, and join the two ends together. The result is a loop with remarkable properties. It has only one edge and only one side. There is also a three-dimensional analog of the Mobius strip, the Klein bottle. It has only one surface. Any liquid placed in a Klein bottle coffee mug is both inside and outside the mug at the same time, as is everything in the Universe.

The Mobius Strip, the book, explores the properties of the Mobius strip as well as other topological topics, knots, higher dimensional objects, and stories and films in which space-time is looped. Pickover details the life of August Mobius and his scientific accomplishments. Interestingly, Mobius's work on the strip named for him was not published until after his death. Far from being just a mathematical curiosity, the Mobius strip is the basis for many inventions. Each chapter in the book starts with a diagram taken from a United States patent that uses the strip in some manner.

Pickover injects his own imaginative take on the meaning of the strip. For example, he supposes a town in which the bicycle path takes you around a Mobius route in such a way that you return to the start with your left and right sides reversed. It takes two trips around the path for you to get back to the way you were when you started, Interestingly, the spin-1/2 sub-nuclear particles share this characteristic. Perhaps electrons and protons are very small Mobius strips.

In this volume, the author builds upon his previous mathematical works, ...Read more ›

Comment Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...

Thank you for your feedback.

Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again

Report abuse

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

John - A Twisted Space Enthusiast

By J. K. Carrington Exp on June 29, 2006

Format: Hardcover

WoW! Another great book by Clifford Pickover. Math buffs and recreationists alike will love this book. This is a readable, non-technical tour de force of the Mobius band and its ubiquitous presence. Don't be fooled by my "non-technical". The concepts covered here will stretch the mind of most anyone not already thoroughly immersed in rubber geometry. The strip wends its one-sided way through knots, magic tricks, toys and games, hyperspace, art, architecture and even literature.

My only plea would be to have some of the illustrations in colour.

Highly recommended!

Comment Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...

Thank you for your feedback.

Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again

Report abuse

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful

A Magical Trip with "The Mobius Strip"

By Ray Erskins on June 11, 2006

Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase

Permit me to rave about "The Mobius Strip." Then buy it, read it, and enjoy its many flavors. Math buffs will find it as mouth-watering as a bowl of Ben and Jerry's ice cream. The aesthetically inclined will be delighted by its initial simplicity and the helpful illustrations that enable them (and me) to grasp the book's mathematical profundities.

Always the entertainer, Cliff Pickover takes the stage with "Mobius Limericks to Get You in the Mood." Soon after we see a photo (by Paul Mobius) of his father's skull with Beethoven's skull grinning in the foreground. Shades of P.T. Barnum! And this is only the introduction!

Although the ideas in the book are presented with exceptional clarity and treated with utmost respect by the author, he does reveal his dry sense of humor upon occasion. Here is one of my favorite nuggets on page 11:

"One of the most mystifying Mobius arrangements is the sandwich Mobius strip, created with just two strips of paper. I have known people to ponder this for hours while listening to Pink Floyd without ever fully appreciating what they have beheld."

This gives you some idea of what's in store for the perceptive reader. The book swiftly advances beyond parlor tricks, toys, patented inventions, sailor's knots, the Book of Kells, and other amazing items until we find ourselves soaring into the realm of transcendental reality. One gets the feeling that the Mobius strip is the skeleton key to infinity. But then, so is the Klein bottle. So is Alexander's horned sphere. So is the Penrose triangle. So is M.C. Escher's art! The book is filled with these enigmatic jewels of understanding.Read more ›

Comment Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...

Thank you for your feedback.

Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again

Report abuse

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

A multiverse in a book!

By Greg Francke on May 31, 2006

Format: Hardcover

I first heard of Cliff Pickover while exploring fractals and strange attractors as art, and eventually I found myself hearing more and more about this prolific author.

Eventually I had the opportunity to read this book.

A scrapbook of a great mind, allowing us to follow the Moebius strip through history as a mathematical entity and as a metaphor for everything from the process of learning to the very nature of our universe. It's a fascinating and accessable read for the incredibly thought provoking nature of the information therein; sharing in Pickovers' enthusiasm and imagination makes it even more so. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and look forward to reading it again, as well as tracking down more of Pickovers' work.

If I could compare it to anything in current literature, it'd be Simon Winchesters' Krakatoa.

Comment Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...

Thank you for your feedback.

Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again

Report abuse

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

A portal to new universes of imagination

By Eric B Cowan on June 2, 2006

Format: Hardcover

In 1633, Galileo Galilei said, "The universe cannot be read until we have learnt the language and become familiar with the characters in which it is written. It is written in mathematical language... without which it is humanly impossible to comprehend a single word." And so begins Dr. Pickover's amazing roller-coaster ride through a breathtaking array of topics in science and art.

Some of the book deals with topology and "glistening shapes that span dimensions." Other portions concern the M�bius strip in countless settings, from molecules and metal sculptures to postage stamps, literature, architectural structures and models of our entire universe. The strip is featured in countless technology patents, which decorate the frontispieces of each chapter.

In some of the most impressive chapters, Pickover deals with endless loops in literature and mythology. He also coaxes readers to question the way they see the world and think about reality. For example, readers will become more conscious about what it means to visualize a one-sided object or what it means to have orientation-reversing paths in space.

Pickover also has a penchant for knots, and he notes that knots have been crucial to the development of civilization, where they have been used to tie clothing, to secure weapons to the body, to create shelters, and to permit the sailing of ships and world exploration. He also suggests that knot patterns have been found on burial stones engraved by Neolithic peoples. Today, knot theory has infiltrated biology, chemistry and physics. Pickover writes, "In a few millennia, humans have transformed knots from ornamental engravings on rocks to models of the very fabric of reality." I enjoyed this book immensely and recommend it to all readers interested in the science of imagination.

Comment Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...

Thank you for your feedback.

Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again

Report abuse

See all 17 customer reviews (newest first)

Write a customer review

Customer Images

Most Recent Customer Reviews

Clifford Pickover is brilliant, and makes you love math

Clifford Pickover is brilliant, and makes you love math, even if you hated it as a kid. This is very entertaining, and mind bending, too.

Published 4 months ago by FlowerBomb

Five Stars

Received in great condition....a fun and interesting read!

Published 7 months ago by elizabeth newhall

"The Twists Around Us"

A bit technical but great fun to read. It opens your eyes to so many examples of the "twisted ribbons" and convoluted stories around us.

Published 9 months ago by J. S. K.

Four Stars

Product is well made and arrived quickly from shipper.

Published 11 months ago by Dennis T Pymm

Five Stars

A dream come true for this former teenage topologist.

Published 14 months ago by Kenneth A. Perko, Jr.

More than I could have imagined

Being a math geek, I enjoyed this book for most parts. The various ways that a Mobius Strip appears in nature and mathematics was more than I knew. Read more

Published 22 months ago by DonB!

Great Cover Image

I was flattered that Clifford Pickover would request my computer-generated rendition of a trefoil knot puzzle for his book's cover. Read more

Published on January 30, 2012 by Stickoutrock

Interesting concept

Not a math geek, didn't know anything about this area but wanted to learn something new. I have, interesting book.

Published on November 3, 2011 by Amazon Customer

The perpetual idea machine operates at full efficiency

In this book, Clifford Pickover once again verifies a statement that I used many years ago to describe him, "A perpetual idea machine, Clifford Pickover is one of the most... Read more

Published on January 9, 2009 by Charles Ashbacher

The Mobius Strip

Clifford Pickover's "The Mobius Strip" is a great book with easy to understand explanations of the one sided Mobius Strip and other fascinating mathematical and scientific matters. Read more

Published on December 13, 2008 by Bryan