By Nature's Design

by Diane Ackerman (Foreword), Judith Dunham (Editor), William Neill (Photographer)

The beauty and symmetry of the natural world come alive in this inspired collaboration between acclaimed nature photographer William Neill and San Francisco's famous hands-on science museum, the Exploratorium. Exquisite, full-color photographs unveil the secret blueprints of nature often overlooked by the casual the spiral forms that appear in seashells, spiderwebs, and the heart of a daisy; the hexagons found in honeycombs and cracking mud. Through its captivating photographic content and accessible scientific examination. By Nature's Design reaveals the order, economy, and elegance of nature's diverse forms in an engaging volume that will fascinate and inform art and nature lovers alike.

Genres: Nature, Nonfiction, Science

120 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1993

About the author

Diane Ackerman has been the finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Nonfiction in addition to many other awards and recognitions for her work, which include the bestsellers The Zookeeper’s Wife and A Natural History of the Senses.

The Zookeeper’s Wife, a little known true story of WWII, became a New York Times bestseller, and received the Orion Book Award, which honored it as, "a groundbreaking work of nonfiction." A movie of The Zookeeper’s Wife, starring Jessica Chastain and Daniel Brühl, releases in theaters March 31st, 2017 from Focus Features.

She lives with her husband Paul West in Ithaca, New York.

Reviews

[Cindy · Rating 5 out of 5]

From the San Francisco's Museum of Science, Art and Human Perception. Intriguing nature photos and thought provoking ideas of pattern: spirals, helices, meanders, ripples, spheres, explosions, hexagon packing, branching. "Twice may be an accident. But three or more times makes a pattern."

We crave pattern. We see it everywhere. Create it: buildings, symphonies, fabrics, societies. Even our actions. habits, rules, rituals, daily routines, taboos, sports, traditions. They reassure us that life if stable, orderly, predictable. Similes and metaphors write seemingly unrelated things.

Without a pattern, we feel helpless, and life may seem as scary as a open backed cellar staircase with no railings to guide us.

Patterns are cherished and admired. A ripple, spiral or rosette are visually succulent. The mind savors them.

[Amy Paget · Rating 5 out of 5]

While preparing for "Meeting God in Nature", a Quiet Day opportunity that I designed, I discovered many interesting resources including this book, By Nature's Design in the Exploratorium Book series.

From the foreword, Diane Ackerman writes, "Once is an instance. Twice may be an accident. But three times or more makes a pattern." In By Nature's Design, photographer William Neill reveals the patterns in nature in all their glory. He explores spirals and helixes, meanders and ripples, branching, packing and cracking, and fractals. By Nature's Design was a wonderful complement to my morning's walk.

[to'c · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice, nice, very nice. Lots of nature's patterns explained very succinctly. And the photos are lovely.