Computers, pattern, chaos, and beauty: Graphics from an unseen world

by Clifford A. Pickover

Combining fractal theory with computer art, this book introduces a creative use of computers. It describes graphic methods for detecting patterns in complicated data and illustrates simple techniques for visualizing chaotic behavior. "Beautiful." - Martin Gardner, Scientific American. Over 275 illustrations, 29 in color.

Genres: Mathematics, Science, Computers, Nonfiction, Computer Science, Technology, Programming

394 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Clifford Alan Pickover is an American author, editor, and columnist in the fields of science, mathematics, science fiction, innovation, and creativity. For many years, he was employed at the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown, New York, where he was editor-in-chief of the IBM Journal of Research and Development. He has been granted more than 700 U.S. patents, is an elected Fellow for the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, and is author of more than 50 books, translated into more than a dozen languages.

Reviews

[Barnaby Sheeran · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book blew my mind when I was young, and is fairly responsible for much of what occupies my brain most days.

[Jay Reynolds · Rating 4 out of 5]

Filled with fun stuff for the programmer-artist-experimenter. Pickover is great - I love his enthusiastic pursuit of diverse interests (his fascination with life and everything in general) and his ability to make clear, eye-opening connections between so many different disciplines and ideas. Read Pickover and have an ah-ha moment for yourself.

[Andy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This had some good recipes for creating fractal and other chaos-based images. It got a little deep at times (at least for what I was looking for). If you aren't looking for detailed theory and explanations, you could probably read the first quarter of the book and get the idea of how some of these patterns can be generated (and give you ideas to try on your own.