The Golden Section: Nature's Greatest Secret

by Scott Olsen

Overview

What was the great and golden secret known to Leonardo Da Vinci, Kepler, Plato and the ancient magicians? Why were they forbidden to reveal it? Can there really be a key to nature and life itself? In this small but compact volume divine proportion supersleuth Dr Olsen unravels perhaps the greatest mystery of all time, a code that seems to underly life, the universe and everything, a pattern we instinctively recognise as beautiful, and which nature herself uses at every scale. WOODEN BOOKS US EDITIONS. Small books, BIG ideas.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781952178030
Publisher:	Wooden Books
Publication date:	07/01/2021
Series:	Wooden Books North America Editions
Pages:	64
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 6.75(h) x 0.33(d)

About the Author

Dr. Scott Olsen is associate Professor of Humanities at the College of Central Florida, Ocala. This is his first book.

Read an Excerpt

Nature holds a great mystery, zealously guarded by her custodians from those who would profane or abuse the wisdom. Periodically portions of this tradition are quietly revealed to those of humanity who have attuned their eyes to see and ears to hear. The primary requirements are openness, sensitivity, enthusiasm, and an earnestness to understand the deeper meaning of nature's marvels exhibited to us daily. Many of us tend to walk through life half asleep, at times numbed, if not actually deadened to the exquisite order that surrounds us. But a trail of clues has been preserved.
The secretive tradition centres on a study of number, harmony, geometry and cosmology that stretches back through the mists of time into the Egyptian, Babylonian, Indian and Chinese cultures. It is evident in the layout and relationships of the stone circles and underground chambers of ancient Europe, as well as in Neolithic stones discovered in Britain, fashioned in the form of the five regular solids. There are further clues in Maya and other Mesoamerican artifacts and buildings, and across the ocean the Gothic masons embedded it in their cathedral designs.
The great Pythagorean philosopher, Plato, in his writings and oral teachings, hinted, though enigmatically, that there was a golden key unifying these mysteries.
Here is my promise to you: if you are willing to proceed step by step through this compact little book, it will be well nigh impossible not to grasp by the end a satisfying and stunning glimpse, if not deeply provocative insight, into Nature's Greatest Secret.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

The Mystery of Phi 2

Ratio, Means & Proportion 4

Plato's Divided Line 6

Phi on the Plane 8

The Fibonacci Sequence 10

Phyllotaxis Patterns 12

Order Behind Diversity 14

Lucas Number Magic 16

All Creatures 18

Phi in the Human Body 20

Growth & Diminution 22

Exponentials and Spirals 24

Golden Symmetry 26

Phi in Human Culture 28

Ancient of Days 30

My Cup Runneth Over 32

A Sacred Tradition 34

Phi in Painting 36

Melody & Harmony 38

All That Glisters 40

The Golden Chalice 42

Golden Polyhedra 44

Phi in the Sky 46

Resonance & Consciousness 48

The Philosopher's Stone 50

Appendices I Phi Equations, and II: Fibonacci Formulæ 52

Appendix III The Indefinite Dyad 54

Appendix IV Designer's Rectangles 56

Appendix V Golden Physics 57

Appendices VI More Lucas Magic, and VII: Phyllotaxis Angles 58

Editorial Reviews

"Stunning." — The New York Times

"Excellent." — New Scientist

"Fascinating." — Financial Times

"Beautiful." — London Review of Books

"Genuinely mind-expanding." — Fortean Times

"Rich and Artful." — The Lancet

From the Publisher