"My primary interest is finding new ways to continually expand creativity by
melding art, science, mathematics and other seemingly-disparate areas of human
endeavor. I seek not only to expand the mind, but to shatter it."
Cliff
Pickover, besides writing popular books about science, computers and computer
art, conducts research in the fields of computer graphics and scientific
visualization, edits scientific journals, and creates puzzles for Discover
magazine. See
Clifford A. Pickover's Home Page. Visit the puzzle page
AlienTiles created partly
by him.
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 The Zen
of Magic Squares, Circles, and Stars
Princeton Univ Pr.
Pickover explains why Chinese emperors, Babylonian astrologer-priests,
prehistoric cave people in France, and ancient Mayans of the Yucatan were
convinced that magic squares--arrays filled with numbers or letters in certain
arrangements--held the secret of the universe. Since the dawn of civilization,
he writes, humans have invoked such patterns to ward off evil and bring good
fortune. Yet who would have guessed that in the twenty-first century,
mathematicians would be studying magic squares so immense and in so many
dimensions that the objects defy ordinary human contemplation and
visualization?
Buy at
 Wonder of
Numbers
Oxford. If we actually received messages from
the stars, what would we do with them? Who were the five strangest
mathematicians in history? What are the ten most interesting numbers? Who is
the Number King? Jam-packed with thought-provoking mathematical mysteries,
puzzles, and games, along with the answers to all of the above questions, this
text is designed to enchant even the most left-brained of readers.
Buy at
 The Loom of God : Mathematical Tapestries at the Edge
of Time
Plenum Publishing. This is not so much a unified
narrative as a loosely linked series of discussions about computers, fractals,
Stonehenge, Kabbalism, and the End of the World. Why is it that famous
math-minds like Pythagoras, Pascal, and Newton were also devoted believers? Or
that various faiths seem so preoccupied with numerology?
Buy at
Computers, Pattern, Chaos, and Beauty
Alan Sutton. Graphics from an unseen world.
Buy
at
Computers and the Imagination,
Alan
Sutton. Visual adventures beyond the edge. "In this book, I examine the
manifold ways in which computers transform how we both perceive and understand
the world around us. Computers and the Imagination includes a range of topics
from artificial spider webs, to pain-inducing patterns, to computer-generated
poetry. Along the way, I use the computer to gain new insights into the very
origins of human creativity. The book includes: computer graphics, strange
problems, and startling applications of computer science to art, music, poetry,
science, and technology."
Buy at
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