Sacred Geometry

Wooden Books

by Miranda Lundy

Miranda Lundy gives us a beautiful glimpse into the world of shapes and the geometry behind some of mankind's most famous creations.

Geometry is one of a group of special sciences - Number, Music and Cosmology are the others - found identically in nearly every culture on earth. In this small volume, Miranda Lundy presents a unique introduction to this most ancient and timeless of universal sciences.

Sacred Geometry demonstrates what happens to space in two dimensions - a subject last flowering in the art, science and architecture of the Renaissance and seen in the designs of Stonehenge, mosque decorations and church windows. With exquisite hand-drawn images throughout showing the relationship between shapes, the patterns of coin circles, and the definition of the golden section, it will forever alter the way in which you look at a triangle, hexagon, arch, or spiral.

Wooden Books was founded in 1999 by designer John Martineau near Hay-on-Wye. The aim was to produce a beautiful series of recycled books based on the classical philosophies, arts and sciences. Using the Beatrix Potter formula of text facing picture pages, and old-styles fonts, along with hand-drawn illustrations and 19th century engravings, the books are designed not to date. Small but stuffed with information. Eco friendly and educational. Big ideas in a tiny space. There are over 1,000,000 Wooden Books now in print worldwide and growing.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Art, Mathematics, Spirituality, Geometry, Architecture

64 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 1998

Reviews

[Vaso · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ενδιαφέρον ανάγνωσμα με εικονογράφηση που βοηθάει στην κατανόηση των γεωμετρικών σχημάτων και εννοιών.

[Ralph · Rating 4 out of 5]

My mind is blown; my compass and ruler will receive a workout!

[Night City Moves]

useful mini-reference book for artists and designers that already have a basic understanding of the math concepts, or those who need a quick crash course in sacred geometry.

[Keli]

This book was just too short. Trying out the geometric drawings was incredibly fun. I think I will look for another (bigger) book like it.

[Amélia Slama · Rating 2 out of 5]

Vraiment plus fun à regarder qu’à lire, les dernières pages étaient mes préférées

[Murf Reeves · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book fascinating and mindblowing. Too many shapes that exist so effortlessly in the universe and lo and behold, the building blocks of many of our structures including architecture and music. I need to learn so much more, but I am excited by the connections on such tiny levels, the chaos is just order wearing a super cool costume!

[Eldin Stråth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I slutet blev det lite väl mycket beskrivning av bara geometriska former, men annars var det en väldigt häftig bok som även beskrev sambandet mellan musik och matematik. Det var en väldigt häftig upplevelse som öppnade mina ögon för hur geometrin påverkat världen

[Searchingthemeaningoflife Greece · Rating 5 out of 5]

[...]Although outside the scope of this book, it is worth mentioning that there are just five regular three-dimensional solids. Each has equal edges, every face is the same perfect polygon and every point is the same distance from the centre. Known as the five Platonic Solids, they
were recognised in the British Isles two thousand years before Plato; 4000-year-old sets of them have been found at stone circles in Aberdeenshire, Scotland (below, after Critchlow).
The first solid is the tetrahedron, with four vertices and four faces of equilateral triangles, traditionally representing the element of Fire. The second solid is the octahedron, made from six points and eight equilateral triangles, representing Air. The Cube
is the third solid, eight vertices and six square faces, representing Earth. The fourth is the icosahedron, with twelve points and twenty faces of equilateral triangles, the element of Water. The last, and fifth, element is the dodecahedron, which
has twenty vertices, representing the mysterious fifth element of Aether.[...]

[Nayeli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another one from the small Wooden Books series. I liked it a lot although I probably only understood 30% of it, I have never been great at math so a lot of those explanations I skipped over. It’s very brief but goes far, it starts with the dot and the line, then on to the circle, square and triangle and then it goes into a lot more: the golden section, pentagons, heptagons, enneagons… islamic design, church windows, arches, celtic spirals… and way more. All the topics are explained very briefly but I found it a great introduction, there are probably thousands of books on each of these subjects which you could look into if you’re interested.

[SJ L · Rating 3 out of 5]

By page 25, I was floating above the book, seeing a blanket of green, flickering, 1s and 0s blanketing the earth.

Kidding, but this was a fairly interesting book to flip through. This is less about the hippie dippie stuff related to this theory and more about the shapes themselves. Interesting point in the book is this: "Geometry is 'numbers in space,' music is 'number in time.'"

I dig that. I continue to maintain that numbers without stories are dumb, and stories without numbers are blind. Both sides matter, and help describe this vast, beautiful, undescribably mystery.

[Kitap · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lives up to the description on the back cover: this "small book" is indeed a "unique introduction" to "what happens to space in two dimensions" with "exquisite hand-drawn images throughout." It's not the most robust or exhaustive look at sacred geometry; it's only 58 pages long, which is 29 times 2, and since 29 is a prime number...



That said, it does provide a cool excuse to break out the junior high school compass.

[Patricia Butler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Small but stunning - “Sacred Geometry” - part of the “small books, big ideas“ book series - left my head spinning. Euclidean Geometry and Celtic spirals. Islamic designs and church windows. Delightful arches. Tetrahedrons, pentagons, dodecagons, the shapes of sound, circling the square . . . You get the picture. But Is it Art or is it math? I was alternately awestruck and baffled. And I will never think of geometry in the same way. I just wish it had been a little more street level for a broader audience.

[Ana Gutierrez · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting and informative little book but I have to confess it got a little complicated. It's probable that if you have an interests and strong understanding of geometry in general you won't get lost but I did.

I definitely had a strong desire to watch the Walt Disney's Classic: Donald in Mathmagic Land! XD

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I cannot pretend to completely understand
the geometric principles underlying form, I got
the general idea of the meaning and metaphor
of shapes - circles, squares, triangle. Pretty fascinating.

[Gabriel Eggers · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great little guide book to geometric concepts as they relate to sacred forms and patterns. Even better it part of a huge series of fascinating little books. Easily read in a day, though I'm going to take the time to study and explore all the forms and patterns presented.

[T · Rating 4 out of 5]

A small book describing the fundamental concepts and Wonders of Sacred Geometry. Beautiful artsitic designs spread throughout this book. Taking you into deeper worlds about visual language of music, architecture, art and nature.

[Meeraiyer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rudimentary

This book us a very rudimentary description of the use of geometry bin different religions. I was hoping for more information on the mathematical underpinnings force religious symbols but was disappointed.

[Paige McLoughlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sacred Geometry isn't magical voodoo with shapes but artforms that often inform religious art and architecture. One doesn't have to get mystical with the geometry to recognize the beauty employed by such designs. Wooden books are charming in this regard.

[Matt Kelland · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent little book. I finally discovered how to construct pentagrams and various types of arches, as well as numerous other of my favorite designs.

[Sandra · Rating 2 out of 5]

Way too much Christianity, not enough cosmology...put down halfway through

[deborah wale · Rating 1 out of 5]

Text unreadable in places

The lines of text in some places merge so I can't read what it says. I have a kindle fire and can't adjust the text size either.

[danielle; ▵ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Spencer Jake]

One cannot read the book as it doesn't even open

[Judith the Book Gobbler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reference

[James Livermore · Rating 4 out of 5]

Small but dense book, wish some concepts were more fleshed out.

[Brenda Asterino · Rating 5 out of 5]

Little, but mighty. I love this little book and refer to it every now and again.
Great introduction. Great way to get acquainted with what you don't learn in high school geometry class.

[Megan Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not sure I comprehended everything in this book as math/geometry are not my strong suits. But it was interesting to look at!

[Eliana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book! It was simple enough for me to understand it, but complex enough to be informative! It was cool!

[Eddie · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was alright however I just think it wasn't the book for me, I'm sure it will be very interesting for people looking for information about patterns and their meanings.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

A neat overview of the geometric harmony that seemingly lies at the core of our universe, from the design of religious iconography to the shape of music itself.