One of the delights of life is the discovery and rediscovery of patterns of order and beauty in nature—the designs revealed by slicing through a head of cabbage or an orange, the forms of shells and butterfly wings. These images are awesome not just for their beauty alone, but because they suggest an order underlying their growth, a harmony existing in nature. What does it mean that such an order exists; how far does it extend? The Power of Limits was inspired by those simple discoveries of harmony. The author then went on to investigate and measure hundreds of patterns—ancient and modern, minute and vast. His discovery, vividly illustrated here, is that certain proportions occur over and over again in all these forms. Patterns are also repeated in how things grow and are made—by the dynamic union of opposites—as demonstrated by the spirals which move in opposite directions in the growth of a plant. The joining of unity and diversity in the discipline of proportional limitations creates forms that are beautiful to us because they embody the principles of the cosmic order of which we are a part; conversely, the limitlessness of that order is revealed by the strictness of its forms. The author shows how we, as humans, are included in the universal harmony of form, and suggests that the union of complementary opposites may be a way to extend that harmony to the psychological and social realms as well.

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Sacred Geometry by Miranda Lundy Hardcover
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9 Reviews

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4.6 out of 5 stars (9 customer reviews)

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4.0 out of 5 stars a++++, Jun 14 2003

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This review is from: Power of Limits (Paperback)

its a goood and extremely helpful book!

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5.0 out of 5 stars Architects take notice, May 23 2003

david troutman (NYC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Power of Limits (Paperback)

A very good book an sacred geometry with lots of diagrams.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Elegant, Dec 28 2001

Kenneth James Michael MacLean (Ann Arbor, MI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Power of Limits (Paperback)

This beautifully illustrated and diagrammed book attempts to show the harmony that exists in nature and all good art and architecture. Not only that, Doczi attempts to weave into this picture, (with some success) Pythagorean concepts of harmony and it's relation to growth in nature.
The essential concept in this book is the 'power of limits.' Doczi shows that this limiting factor is the golden section. And he does it using almost no math! The golden section has the powerful quality that division or expansion by this proportion always leads to harmonious growth. No matter how small or large is the division, there is never anything "left over" to create disharmony. This limiting factor is of transcendental power, thus "The Power of Limits."
Unregulated growth could never achieve anything but randomness, which is not what we observe in nature.
Of course in nature and in life it is impossible to achieve perfection. Yet Doczi elegantly explains how nature compensates for this inability by using the Fibonnaci sequence instead. Profusely illustrated with many detailed, easy-to-understand diagrams, this book is a must for those who wish to understand more deeply how our world is constructed, without wading through a lot of math.

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Most recent customer reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, Helpful, Fuzzy
While I agree with the other reviewers that this book is both well written & well illustrated, the Jungian cant of the author feels too new-agey to me. Read more

Published on July 20 2001 by Peter F. Stubbs

5.0 out of 5 stars Mathematical Harmony in Nature
Any serious observer of nature can tell you there are rhythms in nature, patterns that repeat themselves. Far from chaos, there is harmony. Read more

Published on Jun 7 2001 by George G. Kiefer