The Golden Ratio: The Story of PHI, the Worlds Most Astonishing Number
by By Livio, Mario
Category: Mathematics , Research

Throughout history, thinkers from mathematicians to theologians have pondered the   mysterious relationship between numbers and the nature of reality. In this fascinating   book, Mario Livio tells the tale of a number at the heart of that mystery: phi, or   1.6180339887...This curious mathematical relationship, widely known as "The Golden   Ratio," was discovered by Euclid more than two thousand years ago because of its   crucial role in the construction of the pentagram, to which magical properties had   been attributed. Since then it has shown a propensity to appear in the most astonishing   variety of places, from mollusk shells, sunflower florets, and rose petals to the   shape of the galaxy. Psychological studies have investigated whether the Golden Ratio   is the most aesthetically pleasing proportion extant, and it has been asserted that   the creators of the Pyramids and the Parthenon employed it. It is believed to feature   in works of art from Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa to Salvador Dali's The Sacrament   of the Last Supper, and poets and composers have used it in their works. It has even   been found to be connected to the behavior of the stock market! The Golden Ratio is a captivating journey through art and architecture, botany and biology, physics   and mathematics. It tells the human story of numerous phi-fixated individuals, including   the followers of Pythagoras who believed that this proportion revealed the hand of   God; astronomer Johannes Kepler, who saw phi as the greatest treasure of geometry;   such Renaissance thinkers as mathematician Leonardo Fibonacci of Pisa; and such masters   of the modern world as Goethe, Cezanne, Bartok, and physicist Roger Penrose.  Wherever   his quest for the meaning of phi takes him, Mario Livio reveals the world as a place   where order, beauty, and eternal mystery will always coexist.