The Golden Ratio
The Story of Phi, the World's Most Astonishing Number
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The Golden Ratio
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Narrated by:
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Mel Foster
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By:
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Mario Livio
About this listen
Throughout history, thinkers from mathematicians to theologians have pondered the mysterious relationship between numbers and the nature of reality. In this fascinating book, Mario Livio tells the tale of a number at the heart of that mystery: phi, or 1.6180339887....
This curious mathematical relationship, widely known as "The Golden Ratio", was discovered by Euclid more than 2,000 years ago because of its crucial role in the construction of the pentagram, to which magical properties had been attributed. Since then it has shown a propensity to appear in the most astonishing variety of places, from mollusk shells, sunflower florets, and rose petals to the shape of the galaxy. Psychological studies have investigated whether the Golden Ratio is the most aesthetically pleasing proportion extant, and it has been asserted that the creators of the Pyramids and the Parthenon employed it. It is believed to feature in works of art from Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa to Salvador Dali's The Sacrament of the Last Supper, and poets and composers have used it in their works. It has even been found to be connected to the behavior of the stock market!
The Golden Ratio is a captivating journey through art and architecture, botany and biology, physics and mathematics. It tells the human story of numerous phi-fixated individuals, including the followers of Pythagoras who believed that this proportion revealed the hand of God; astronomer Johannes Kepler, who saw phi as the greatest treasure of geometry; such Renaissance thinkers as mathematician Leonardo Fibonacci of Pisa; and such masters of the modern world as Goethe, Cezanne, Bartok, and physicist Roger Penrose. Wherever his quest for the meaning of phi takes him, Mario Livio reveals the world as a place where order, beauty, and eternal mystery will always coexist.
©2008 Mario Livio (P)2013 Brilliance Audio, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
What listeners say about The Golden Ratio
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Mike
- 10-09-20
Not exactly what I was expecting!
The narrator comes across as condescending at times, and there is a presumption that the author is right while all else is wrong.
But overall not a bad book, and if you are interested in the golden ratio it's worth a listen.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- jake
- 22-06-20
Get through the beginning and it’s fabulous
A difficult book to make sense of audibly.
There is a lot of “01 010101 etc”
But the chapters on History are fabulous
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 28-05-21
Starts off OK then gets hard to follow
Some books simply need to be read and this is one of them. So many huge and incomprehensible number are thrown out in such rapid fire commentary I found myself having to listen at 80% speed whereas normally I like 150-200%. If you listen with a notebook and stop regularly it would be great. There is almost no story though and ideas jump around from chapter to chapter, not a bad book just not a good audiobook.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- E. A. N. Gray
- 07-06-19
needs diagrams
an interesting and mind-blowing book but difficult to fully comprehend without diagrams as it is an audiobook.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
- Phil A
- 16-07-17
Interesting but sometimes difficult to follow.
An odd mix of a bit of fairly simple maths, natural sciences, history and fables - with a bit of physics thrown in. Geometry discriptions are difficult to follow. Perhaps the book should have included all "special" numbers and stuck to science or history or art.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Gavin
- 29-10-22
interesting
interesting history and story of not just the golden ratio but problem solving itself. some chapters I felt dragged (the art nonsense) but there were fantastic chapters (math) that made up for the lag. i liked half this book. spoiler the golden ratio is just the most irrational number available. there were some irrational claims in this book.
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 16-01-24
Pointless without the illustrations
Overrated book with no way of communicating the original concepts without the illustrations of the paper version
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