The Golden Ratio: The Story of Phi, the World's Most Astonishing Number | 
 enlarge | Author: Mario Livio
Publisher: Broadway
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $10.00
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Avg. Customer Rating:  83 reviews
Sales Rank: 367942
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 320
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.1
ISBN: 0767908155
Dewey Decimal Number: 516.204
EAN: 9780767908153
ASIN: 0767908155
Publication Date: October 2002
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Product Description
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.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 78 more reviews...
Good History of a Ballyhooed Idea November 30, 2008
4 stars for the depth of research and willingness to de-bunk a lot of the mythic nonsense spread around about the golden ratio.
Conveys a complete and accurate understanding of the number and its significance both artistically and historically.
 Crackpotiana August 24, 2008
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
subtitled: The Story of PHI, the World's Most Astonishing Number
that's alot of hype for the irrational number 1.6180339887... . the author barrages the reader with hyperbole. 'mysterious', 'astonishing', 'amazing', 'wonderful', 'beautiful', 'fascinating', 'curious', 'crucial', 'unimagined', 'divine', etc. etc. not just astonishing, but "the World's Most Astonishing Number".
horse feathers. the people who are 'fascinated' by this are the same who freak out when they see 11:11 on a digital clock; the same who have 'lucky' numbers; the same who fear Friday the 13th.
in fact there are more 'crucial' AND more 'astonishing' numbers. how about 0 or 1 or 2 or 10 or infinity? i guarantee you that if we changed our everyday number base from 10 to , say, 13 that the wheels would fall off of this old bus. now THAT is 'crucial'. and 'divine'? please! what could be more 'divine' than 1? maybe 2 :-) . 'astonishing'? 1 is 'astonishing'. it factors into EVERYTHING! it's everywhere and in everything. 0 doesn't factor into anything. these are more 'astonishing' than phi.
Dali knew how to capitalize off of frenzied hype, so he threw together the "Sacrament of The Last Supper" and when phi's superstitious cultists found out that it featured the 'divine' proportion they took care of turning that ugly, mediocre effort into a 'divine' icon.
the author is supposedly a PhD? whatever.
 A bit tiresome. The title seems misleading to me. July 21, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I bought this book with a thirst to know about this number phi. I did learn about the number phi. However a large part of the book was devoted to instances where various people thought the number phi was present but the author spent considerable time developing the opinion or fact that phi was not influencing this or that particular instance. I got REALLY tired of that.
For me, the first chapter and a half or so and the last two chapters were the meat of the matter for my interest. The book was worth it for the last chapter.
I think that the author would have been better to write a book titled "Why Is Mathematics So Effective?" That seemed to be the central question that really drove the author.
I don't regret reading it. I just feel it wasn't really the book I signed up for.
 Excellent Job February 27, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
One of the best books I've read. It is an in depth study of the Golden Ratio...the history, purpose, relationship to other concepts. I am intrigued by math, art, and science and found this book very, amusing. You will need a basic understanding of high school math to fully appreciate some of it. Oh, by the way, the author shoots down most other author's claims that the golden ratio has been used in classic architecture and art. Superb job Mario Livio!
Many errors in the book January 25, 2008
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
I happened to notice that he says Babylonians found the general solution for the quadratic. General solution of the quadratic was given by Bhaskara. The author has not read Fibbonaci's book. Fibonacci himself said in the preface that he learnt new math from India. Fibonacci numbers were found by Hemachandra. there were many other errors...I would not recommend to my students
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