Metapatterns Across Space, Time & Mind,

by Tyler Volk

In the interdisciplinary tradition of Buckminster Fuller's work, Gregory Bateson's Mind and Nature, and Fritjof Capra's Tao of Physics, Metapatterns embraces both nature and culture, seeking out the grand-scale patterns that help explain the functioning of our universe. Metapatterns begins with the archetypal patterns of space, both form building and relational. Tyler Volk then turns to the arrows, breaks, and cycles that infuse the workings of time. With artful dexterity, he brings together many layers of comprehension, drawing on an astounding range of material from art, architecture, philosophy, mythology, biology, geometry, and the atmospheric and oceanographic sciences. Richly illustrating his metapatterns with a series of sophisticated collages prepared for this book, Volk offers an exciting new look at science and the imagination. As playful and intuitive as it is logical and explanatory, Metapatterns offers an enlightening view of the functional, universal form in space, processes in time, and concepts in mind.

Genres: Philosophy, Science, Architecture, Nonfiction, Design, Biology, Art

296 pages, Paperback

First published June 22, 1995

About the author

Tyler Volk is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biology at New York University. Volk is an active proponent of the Gaia hypothesis. A 1989 study, co-authored by Volk, published in the journal Nature asserts that without the cooling effects of living things, Earth would be 80 degrees Fahrenheit warmer.

Reviews

[Michael · Rating 1 out of 5]

Have you ever chased down a book from a "suggested reading" list, a list from something you really love - only to find the suggestion was in fact really terrible?

[Will · Rating 1 out of 5]

This sounded much more interesting than it ended up being.

[Shoshanna · Rating 2 out of 5]

So elementary that it feels tiresome after only the second chapter.

[Joseph Carrabis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Metapatterns was (to me) an eye-opening, paradigm shifting book. I found myself stopping every few pages to consider what was being offered, suggested, stated, represented. It invited me to rethink much of the way I considered and evaluated things. If you're in a "searching for more" mood, this may be a book for you.

[A Rye · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Golden Ratio owns us all.

[James Madsen]

This book sounds very intriguing!