The Beauty of Nature and the Nature of Beauty

Beauty is one of those rare concepts that spans virtually every domain of human knowledge and is present in every culture. Most authors who address this topic tend to adopt a single perspective - that of their own discipline - and use the methodology and conceptual vocabulary that is standard in their field. This book takes a different approach, and looks at beauty from the standpoint of both the sciences and the humanities. In doing so, it uses insights from mathematics, physics, neuroscience, psychology, philosophy and theology to examine the origins of our "aesthetic drive," and establish why beauty is so important to us. One of the main themes in this book is the notion of complexity, which transcends disciplinary boundaries and helps explain why certain natural forms and works of art continue to attract us even though we have seen them many times before. The fact that this concept can be meaningfully examined in the context of fractal geometry, information theory, psychology and art suggests that beauty has many different aspects, and has the potential to connect seemingly unrelated areas of human inquiry.