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Title: Math and the Mona Lisa: The Art and Science of Leonardo da Vinci by Bulent Atalay ISBN: 1-58834-171-2 Publisher: Smithsonian Books Pub. Date: April, 2004 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 5 (5 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: "Leonardo's Model"
Comment: Bulent Atalay takes us on a delightful romp through millennia and across continents, bringing together art, architecture, science and mathematics under the umbrella of Leonardo's genius. His writing is informed by his artist's eye for beauty, his historian's appreciation of context and his scientist's love of order and symmetry. I read Atalay's description of Leonardo's 'The Last Supper' not long after having visited the masterpiece in Milan, for the first time since its restoration. His words added an unexpected poignancy to that sublime experience. Leonardo is the prototype for the renaissance man-artist, architect, philosopher, scientist, writer. There are few like him today, but Atalay is indeed a modern renaissance man, and he invites us to tap the power of synthesis that is Leonardo's model.
-William D. Phillips, the 1997 Nobel Prize Winner in Physics.
Rating: 5
Summary: A Gem for Leo
Comment: Although "Math and the Mona Lisa" addresses art and science in general, at its heart the book is a paean to Leonardo, and a celebration of his works from a unique perspective. The author, Bulent Atalay, a remarkable scientist and artist who has been called a modern Renaissance man, clearly identifies with Leonardo, another scientist, artist, and engineer who was the definitive Renaissance man. This special affinity makes the book more than an ordinary biography, and gives exceptional credibility to the author's views on the ways in which the concatenation and synthesis of art and science informed Leonardo's productions. It is not coincidental that both Atalay and his hero, Leonardo, have produced art that is representationalist, because such work, like science, requires creativity constrained by reality. "Math and the Mona Lisa" is not a lavish coffee-table tome. Instead, it is a compact gem that covers its main theme clearly, concisely, and comprehensively. It is small enough to fit into purse or coat pocket, and light enough to be easily portable. Rather than killing time in queues, waiting rooms, and aircraft, a reader can find, throughout the book, a wide range of thought-provoking statements and allusions, some central and many peripheral to the principal topic of the book. Even readers who are familiar with much of the content of the book may be pleased to see so many disparate ideas brought into meaningful association. Yet the best things, such as this book, do not contain and provide all that we need, but inspire us to think and seek on our own. Good things sometimes do come in small packages.
Barry Bressler, Fredericksburg, VA, May 15, 2004
Rating: 5
Summary: Art and Science Synthesized in Leonardo's Mind and Method
Comment: This is a genuinely astonishing book. Its essential idea is that the dichotomy between art and science is a relatively modern idea, that the distinction is not present in Leonardo's method of looking at the world. I've read a lot of good histories of art, and even a good history of science or two, but I've never seen an organic history of both, and that's Atalay's achievement. The illustrations alone -- showing the art in science and the science in art -- are a wonder, and well worth the price of the book. A very elegant entertainment.
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Title: The Golden Ratio: The Story of Phi, the World's Most Astonishing Number by Mario Livio ISBN: 0767908163 Publisher: Broadway Books Pub. Date: 23 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: The Divine Proportion: A Study in Mathematical Beauty by H. E. Huntley, H.E. Huntley ISBN: 0486222543 Publisher: Dover Publications Pub. Date: 01 June, 1970 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
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Title: Leonardo: The Artist and the Man by Serge Bramly, Sian Reynolds ISBN: 0140231757 Publisher: Penguin Books Pub. Date: 01 March, 1995 List Price(USD): $24.00 |
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Title: The Book Nobody Read: Chasing the Revolutions of Nicolaus Copernicus by Owen Gingerich ISBN: 0802714153 Publisher: Walker & Company Pub. Date: 01 January, 2004 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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Title: Abel's Proof: An Essay on the Sources and Meaning of Mathematical Unsolvability by Peter Pesic ISBN: 0262162164 Publisher: MIT Press Pub. Date: 01 June, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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