From the Bookshelf of Science and Inquiry…

Fearful Symmetry: Is God a Geometer?

Ian Stewart,

Martin Golubitsky

Why we're reading this: Wonderful diversity of topics, with many illustrations. Very thought-provoking; the principal subject is …more
[close] Wonderful diversity of topics, with many illustrations. Very thought-provoking; the principal subject is how symmetries are broken in nature.

Find A Copy At

Libraries

Group Discussions About This Book

No group discussions for this book yet.

What Members Thought

Jan 26, 2016 Charlene rated it really liked it

Shelves: biology, chaos-complexity-emergence, physics, constructs, general-science

Going back to the beginning of the universe, we see examples of symmetry breaking-- from quarks to the various forms comprised of them. There seems to exist a fractal nature in how symmetry of any kind is broken. The breaking of symmetry that gave tigers their stripes is the same phenomenon that gave mass to energy (though the Higgs was discovered after Stewart's book). Ian Stewart examines the symmetry of life and non-life as it exists throughout the universe. I read this in tandem with Sean Ca Going back to the beginning of the universe, we see examples of symmetry breaking-- from quarks to the various forms comprised of them. There seems to exist a fractal nature in how symmetry of any kind is broken. The breaking of symmetry that gave tigers their stripes is the same phenomenon that gave mass to energy (though the Higgs was discovered after Stewart's book). Ian Stewart examines the symmetry of life and non-life as it exists throughout the universe. I read this in tandem with Sean Carroll's lecture series on the Higgs. It was a great paring because Stewart focused on the history of symmetry, particularly highlighting Turing, as well as a plethora of examples of symmetry breaking. Carroll focused on how symmetry brought about mass in the first place. If I had read Stewart alone, I would have already been impressed with the wide survey of the symmetry and symmetry breaking that exists all around us and how it is connected to emergence. Coupled with Carroll's lectures, which provide the most up to date research on symmetry in fields, Stewart's book was even more enjoyable.

Stewart provided his reader with an understanding of what symmetry is, how to recognize it, and how to understand group theory. Each symmetry relies on gradients. Various perturbations can cause a symmetry to break. Often the patterns are hard to pin down. For example, unless you understand all the forces that act upon the object in question, you will have a difficult time understanding the full pattern. For example, if there is a periodicity at work, but there is another force or disturbance that affects the periodicity, you must understand it all as a system.

While reading examples that have been known about since Turing's time, I could not help but think about how the same pattern is at work in how cells forms memories so that, even though cells all have the same DNA, they know to develop into various cells such as a liver cell, a heart cell, and so on.

Stewart has a great talk that is more current than this book. I highly recommend it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nZX4... ...more

6 likes · Like · see review

Sep 20, 2009 David Rubenstein rated it it was amazing

Shelves: science, physics

This is a wonderful book about the things that BREAK symmetry. Lots and lots of illustrations that truly bring the topic to life. The very first photograph is of a milk drop falling into a saucer of milk. The circular wave centered around the point where the drop hit the surface rises as a crown. The crown has 24 spikes and droplets--so there is 24-fold symmetry. The reason there is ALWAYS a 24-fold symmetry seems to be a mystery.

The book covers so many different subject areas; geometry, astrono ...more

Like · see review