Harperperennial Library; ISBN: 0060926716 ; Dimensions (in inches): 1.05 x 9.19 x 7.39

In the spiral of the nautilus shell, in the veins of a maple leaf, in the bonds of the benzene ring--everywhere he looks, Schneider sees a cosmic geometry. Of course, the lines of this geometry have long attracted the attention of probing minds, including Pythagoras, Plato, the Psalmist, Demetrius, and Plotinus. The author weaves the insights of these thinkers and many more together in a tapestry of reflections (richly illustrated) on celestial harmonies. Once initiated into the ancient mysteries, the reader will recognize profound meanings--not merely scientific utility--in squares, triangles, and other common shapes. The reader needs no extraordinary expertise in mathematics to explore these pages, just a relish for intellectual adventure. Schneider helps us discover just how much mental energy can fit within the circle of new horizons.

Synopsis
An imaginative tour of the numbers one through ten that illustrates how they consistently recur in everything from nature, technology, art, and science to mythology and the unconscious in archetypal patterns and principles. Richly illustrated with computer graphics and classical art.

For those who know where to look, the principles that guide the construction of our world are plain to see, in  everything from cucumbers to cathedrals. This spectacular volume shows us exactly where we can look - in our buildings, our language, our myths, our environment, even our own bodies - to behold the myriad ways in which the numbers one through ten serve as the universe's blueprint. Modern scientists are reaffirming what the ancients observed in their world and taught in their myths: that a consistent language of geometric design underpins every level of the universe, from atoms through galaxies. Michael Schneider translates that surpassingly eloquent language in lyrical, straightforward prose and hundreds of eye-opening illustrations. Here we learn, for example, why circles have come to symbolize perfection, why triangles are associated with divinity and balance, why squares represent generation and pentads regeneration, why multiples of six are used to measure time and space, and why seven has always been associated with mystery. Schneider makes the abstract real with dozens of easy exercises the reader can do using pencil, paper, compass, and straightedge that demonstrate how our astonishingly intricate world unfolds from the pure simplicity of nature`s geometry. _A Beginner's Guide to Constructing the Universe_ combines science, philosophy, and common sense in a thoroughly novel way, showing us the world's wonder and harmony hidden in familiar places, a wisdom neither ancient nor new age but timeless.

• Freemasons
• techno track _Construction_ MP3 (192k) by Kay D. Smith
• minimal techno track _Master Builder_ MP3 (192k) by Robert Hood off of _Internal Empire_ CD on Logic (1994)

• twee pop track _Everything's Geometry_ MP3 by Cub off of Cub off of _Come Out Come Out_ on Mint (1994)

• space tock release  _Elements Of Structure MP3/Permanence_ MP3 by Cerberus Shoal on AIP (2001)
• experimental track _Of The Building Of Forms By Vibrations_ by The Hafler Trio off of _All That Rises Must Converge_ CD on Grey Area (1995)

• 604 track _The Number Readers_ MP3 (160k) by Subsurfing
sample:
• one number is the shade of another

color is the number of seeing
music is the number of hearing
we build temples of number
we build cities of number
we build worlds of number
we forget oursleves in contemplation of numbers

in a burning landscape we build temples, cities, worlds of number
we toss out a part of the life that is in us

numbers are our most of perfect creation
they are in nature only because they are our creation

numbers and sound liberates all forms of the mind
cut loose from the sediments which burden thought, the mind consoles

when i contemplate something deeply i roll back purpose for myself into an object of self contained perfection

we forget ourselves in contemplation of numbers

this is the highest degree of enjoyment granted to us

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