Ian Alexander's Reviews and Recommendations of Books on Patterns in Nature and Art

Reviews and Recommendations
Books on Natural Patterns

Books on Patterns      Search      Classic Nature Books



Natural Art Forms: Karl Blossfeldt, Dover, 1998
A professional photographer's view of the chiaroscuro, harmony, pattern, and surprise in plants.
Copying is permitted!

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Art Forms in Nature: Ernst Haeckel, Dover, 1974
An extraordinary tour of symmetry, colour and pattern through the eyes of the famous pioneering zoologist Ernst Haeckel.

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Art Forms in Nature: Ernst Haeckel and Melanie Klier
A miniature but delightful tour in full colour through the artwork of Nature, based on the work of the famous pioneering zoologist Ernst Haeckel.

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Patterns in Nature, Peter S. Stevens,
Penguin Books, 1974.

An inspiring tour de force balancing art and science.

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The Self-made Tapestry: Pattern formation in nature, by Philip Ball, Oxford University Press, 2001.

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Nature's Chaos, Eliot Porter and James Gleick,
Viking, 1990.

Porter's glorious colour photographs combine with Gleick's knowledgeable writing.

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Natural Surfaces, Visual Research for Artists, Architects and Designers: Judy A. Juracek,
Thames and Hudson, 2002 (with CD-ROM)

A fascinating book full of textures
and patterns from Nature.

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Patterns of the Earth, Bernard Edmaier, Phaidon, 2007.
240 pages.

 

A compact book of fine aerial photographs chosen to emphasize earth's varied patterns. Each photograph is labelled and described.

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Living Jewels 2: The Magical Design of Beetles,
Poul Beckman and Ruth Kaspin, 2007.  111 pages.

The astonishing diversity of colour, form and structure is beautifully displayed in this little book.
 

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On Growth and Form by D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson, 1917, reprinted 1992.

A pioneering classic by a great man. 1116 pages!

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The Curves of Life: Being an Account of Spiral Formations and Their Application to Growth in Nature, to Science, and to Art, Theodore Andrea Cook, Dover 1979.  512 pages

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The Divine Proportion: A Study in Mathematical Beauty, H. E. Huntley, Dover 1970.  186 pages

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Surfaces and Textures: A Visual Sourcebook, Polly O'Neill, Black 2008    160 pages

A splendidly rich book full of photographs to bring inspiration from nature. The author spent ten years collecting images from different countries, and organizing them into themes. Wonderful.

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The Geometry of Art and Life, Matila Ghyka, 1978.

A geometrical exploration of the patterns of nature. The book does contain equations but the patterns can be understood quite easily from the many illustrations.

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Pattern, Colour and Form: Creative Approaches by Artists, Carolyn Genders, Black 2009    160 pages

A beautiful and stimulating book both of the patterns that exist in nature and of how to make use of them.
Black seem to be publishers to watch.

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