Combining fractal theory with computer art, this book introduces a creative use of computers. It describes graphic methods for detecting patterns in complicated data and illustrates simple techniques for visualizing chaotic behavior. "Beautiful." — Martin Gardner, Scientific American. Over 275 illustrations, 29 in color.
Loaded with stunning computer-generated images, I attempt to reveal an entirely new way of seeing. Topics include: computers and creativity; lateral thinking; hidden patterns in nature, music, genetics and sounds; musical snowflakes, fractal speech, the Shroud of Turin, genesis fractals, biomorphs, chaos, synthesizing nature, cellular automata, ornamental patterns, symmetry, mathematics and beauty, and much more.
Here is what others have said about the book:
"Chaos and fractals are revolutionary topics these days as they find increasing applications in science, pure mathematics, and computer graphics. Dr. Clifford Pickover, long at the center of this cyclone, has produced a truly stunning survey of its manifold consequences. No informed layperson, artist, scientist, or mathematician should pass up the experience of stepping through the portals of this beautiful book into the fantastic new worlds that computers are now exploring in the way a telescope or microscope explores the awesome wonders of nature." - Martin Gardner
"Pickover takes the reader on a stimulating odyssey through the world of computer graphics, a world that surprisingly involves the Shroud of Turin, snowflakes, and the genes that cause cancer." - Paul Hoffman
"A spectacular encounter between the art of the mathematician and the mathematics of art." - Ian Stewart
"A cornucopia of visual ideas, Pickover's book unveils one eye-catching vista after another at the frontiers of scientific and mathematical visualization." - Ivars Peterson, Science News
"It is unfortunate that modern Western man has come to perceive the arts and the sciences as separate, conflicting lines of human endeavor. Pickover's book reunites these disciplines with a marriage of substantive technical content and expertly crafted prose." -Ben Bacon