Marcus du Sautoy's latest book is about the strong and sometimes unexpected links between mathematics, creativity (art in particular) and nature. I found this a very slow read, not due to any criticism of the book, the subject or the writing but because I was frequently stopping to look interesting facts and pictures up on Google! Platonic solids, the focal point of the Last Supper, the Le Corbusier buildings, the golden ratio, etc.

Sometimes I felt that too little was given on the basics of a topic - a level of mathematical understanding was assumed which occasionally went beyond me (armed only with my 45 year old GCE 'O' level in Maths), and although some diagrams and pictures were included there weren't nearly enough to satisfy my curiosity., or understanding. I didn't get many of the musical references so skimmed over some of these. I did try listening to a couple of the pieces referenced (briefly) but... oh well.

The sections on fractals, Salvador Dali, Fibonacci numbers and Shakespeare were all fascinating. As was anything to do with nature because being a biologist I was on much safer ground. I will confess to messaging a poet friend at 1am to ask if she'd heard of Fibonacci poetry (she hadn't).

In summary I found the book to be interesting but something of a mixed bag - I didn't enjoy the music bits but others will no doubt disagree. And I think those Le Corbusier structures look like 1980s Communist Party HQ buildings. Don't shoot me!

Du Sautoy demonstrates the links between mathematics and art through his blueprints.
The writer’s expertise and passion oozes from each page.
It was lovely to read about all these artists, their art as well as science, philosophy and maths.
A very satisfying read.
4 stars only because I expected a particular structure of argument and flow - just a personal preference in the craft/writing.
Otherwise, content and information-wise 5/5.

This is a book about mathematics. It's a book about art. It's a book about nature. And it's a book about the connections between all three. It may seem like art and mathematics in particular are very different in terms of inspiration, practice, and outlook, but Marcus du Sautoy argues that they're not different all--in fact, they come from the same place. Maths provides the structures, which he calls 'blueprints' and art provides the expression of those structures. This book sets out to explain his ideas. He states, "In this book, I want to explore some of the most fundamental mathematical structures that underpin human creativity." (p2) He goes on to say that these same structures can be found in nature: "It's as if human creativity and mathematical discovery are two languages with which to navigate and understand the physical universe we live in." (p2) He likens art, maths, and nature to three points on a triangle and sets out to describe the connections he sees between these three points. He refutes the idea that art alone deals with emotion, arguing that emotion is very evident in mathematics and that mathematicians are actually storytellers whose characters are numbers and geometries. The stories he's telling in this book are structured on his blueprints, which are: prime numbers, circles, Fibonacci numbers, golden ratio, fractals, Platonic solids, symmetry, hyperbolic geometry, and randomness. In the end, du Sautoy muses that perhaps art and mathematics has an edge over nature because they can go "beyond what nature allows." Nature is "real," art doesn't have to be, and mathematics is abstract and can "live in the mind." (p 330)

The book was fascinating and provided much to consider. I do think I might have gotten more out of it if I was someone with a background in mathematics, musical composition, or both. The author is a mathematician, a musician and a writer, and has worked in collaboration with various others from these fields. I am neither of the first two and I did get bogged down at times with the equations and long discussions about how music is composed. Much of this was meaningless to me, to be honest. This didn't prevent me from enjoying the book or from learning new things; it's simply that I would have understood more and in a different way if I had more knowledge about those disciplines and practices. However, in his discussions of art practice, he doesn't limit himself to composition alone, so whether you're a maths nerd or not and whether you are into the way music is composed or not, there's much here to think about and enjoy.

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for a DRC.