Overview

Why do similar patterns and forms appear in nature in settings that seem to bear no relation to one another? The windblown ripples of desert sand follow a sinuous course that resembles the stripes of a zebra or a marine fish. In the trellis-like shells of microscopic sea creatures we see the same angles and intersections as for bubble walls in a foam. The forks of lightning mirror the branches of a river or a tree. This book explains why these are no coincidences. Nature commonly weaves its tapestry by self-organization, employing no master plan or blueprint but by simple, local interactions between its component parts - be they grains of sand, diffusing molecules or living cells. And the products of self- organization are typically universal patterns: spirals, spots, and stripes, branches, honeycombs. This book explains, in non-technical language, and with profuse illustrations, how nature's patterns are made.

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9780198502432

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Reviews

`very beautifully illustrated' Fortean Times April 2002

The latest addition to the growing body of popular literature about the scientific study of complexity explains why similar patterns recur in widely different contexts in nature - why, for example, the stripes on the skin of a tropical fish resemble the pattern of ripples on the windblown sandy surface of the desert. The most intriguing features of the natural world, including life itself, seem to exist in a state bordering on chaos, where patterns are created by the flow of energy through a system, whether an ecosystem or the rippling sand. This is one of the clearest accounts so far of a new branch of science in the making. (Kirkus UK)

Philip Ball has produced a superb book about patterns in nature, The Self-Made Tapestry. From the ribbed desert sands to tree-form streaks of lightening, countless examples give rise to fascinating reflections on the astounding order that exists amid chaos. Lavishly illustrated, this is a stunning book. The Sunday Times

Author Information

Philip Ball is an editor at Nature magazine.

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