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The Algorithmic Beauty of Sea Shells (Virtual
Laboratory)
(May 1998)
For centuries scientists have tried to understand the growth and
development of multicellular organisms. More recently, with the help of
mathematical models and computerized simulations, they have discovered
algorithmic patterns and models that seem to describe the dynamic
processes in which organisms grow, reproduce, and respond to external
factors. In this fascinating and beautifully illustrated book, Hans
Meinhardt explains and illustrates these structural growth patterns in
the case of sea shells. The book delightfully conveys the intuitive
appeal and the "touch of magic" in this research. A diskette
packaged with the book contains a program that allows the reader to run
the simulations on a PC. New patterns can be generated interactively to
provide an insight into the process of biological pattern formation.
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The Self-Made Tapestry : Pattern Formation in
Nature
(December 1998)
Seashells are often spirals, just like water going down the drain.
There must be a connection, right? Our intuition scoffs at such a
notion, but maybe they are related, writes Nature editor Philip Ball in
The Self-Made Tapestry: Pattern Formation in Nature. This deep,
beautiful exploration of the recurring patterns that we find both in the
living and inanimate worlds will change how you think about everything
from evolution to earthquakes. Not by any means a simple book, it is
still completely engaging; even the occasional forays into mathematics
and the abstractions of hydrodynamics are endurable, tucked as they are
between Ball's bright prose and his hundreds of carefully selected
illustrations. When speaking of the living world, Ball seeks to go
beyond the theory of natural selection, which explains why we see
certain characteristics (height, shape, camouflage), to find mechanisms
that can explain how such characteristics come to be. Again, this is no
easy task, but for those willing to follow his discussion, the elegance
of nature is laid out in zebras' stripes, ivy leaves, and butterfly
wings. Moving on to find the same patterns at work in the clouds of
Jupiter and the cracks in the San Andreas fault give strength to the
feeling that there are self-composing structures that guide everything
in the universe toward a kind of order. The Self-Made Tapestry is a
challenging look at the biggest issues in science, and well worth a
thorough read. --Rob Lightner
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The Algorithmic Beauty of Plants (The Virtual
Laboratory)
(February 1996)
This book is the first comprehensive volume on the computer simulation
of plant development. It contains a full account of the algorithms used
to model plant shapes and developmental processes, Lindenmayer systems
in particular. With nearly 50 color plates, the spectacular results of
the modelling are vividly illustrated. "This marvelous book will
occupy an important place in the scientific literature." Professor
Heinz-Otto Peitgen
"The Algorithmic Beauty of Plants will perform a valuable service
by popularizing this enlightening and bewitching form of mathematics."
Steven Levy
" ... the garden here is full of delights and an excellent
introduction to L-systems, ..." Alvy Ray Smith, IEEE Computer
Graphics and its Applications
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On Growth and Form
(June 1992)
First published in 1917, On Growth and Form was at once revolutionary
and conservative. Scottish embryologist D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson
(1860-1948) grew up in the newly cast shadow of Darwinism, and he took
issue with some of the orthodoxies of the day--not because they were
necessarily wrong, he said, but because they violated the spirit of
Occam's razor, in which simple explanations are preferable to complex
ones. In the case of such subjects as the growth of eggs, skeletons, and
crystals, Thompson cited mathematical authority: these were matters of "economy
and transformation," and they could be explained by laws governing
surface tension and the like. (He doubtless would have enjoyed the study
of fractals, which came after his time.) In On Growth and Form, he
examines such matters as the curve of frequency or bell curve (which
explains variations in height among 10-year-old schoolboys, the florets
of a daisy, the distribution of darts on a cork board, the thickness of
stripes along a zebra's flanks, the shape of mountain ranges and sand
dunes) and spirals (which turn up everywhere in nature you look: in the
curve of a seashell, the swirl of water boiling in a saucepan, the sweep
of faraway nebulae, the twist of a strand of DNA, the turns of the
labyrinth in which the legendary Minotaur lived out its days). The
result is an astonishingly varied book that repays skimming and close
reading alike. English biologist Sir Peter Medawar called Thompson's
tome "beyond comparison the finest work of literature in all the
annals of science that have been recorded in the English tongue."
--Gregory McNamee
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Physics for Game Developers
(October 2001)
Colliding billiard balls. Missile trajectories. Cornering dynamics in
speeding cars. By applying the laws of physics, you can realistically
model nearly everything in games that bounces around, flies, rolls,
slides, or isn't sitting still, to create compelling, believable content
for computer games, simulations, and animation. Physics for Game
Developers serves as the starting point for those who want to enrich
games with physics-based realism. Part one is a mechanics primer that
reviews basic concepts and addresses aspects of rigid body dynamics,
including kinematics, force, and kinetics. Part two applies these
concepts to specific real-world problems, such as projectiles, boats,
airplanes, and cars. Part three introduces real-time simulations and
shows how they apply to computer games. Many specific game elements
stand to benefit from the use of real physics, including:
The trajectory of rockets and missiles, including the effects of fuel
burn off.
The collision of objects such as billiard balls.
The stability of cars racing around tight curves.
The dynamics of boats and other waterborne vehicles.
The flight path of a baseball after being struck by a bat.
The flight characteristics of airplanes.
You don't need to be a physics expert to learn from Physics for Game
Developers, but the author does assume you know basic college-level
classical physics. You should also be proficient in trigonometry, vector
and matrix math (reference formulas and identities are included in the
appendixes), and college-level calculus, including integration and
differentiation of explicit functions.
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