On Growth and Form
Published on 15. May 2014
Book
Paperback/Softback
366 pages
978-1-107-67256-7 (ISBN)
Description
Why do living things and physical phenomena take the form they do? D'Arcy Thompson's classic On Growth and Form looks at the way things grow and the shapes they take. Analysing biological processes in their mathematical and physical aspects, this historic work, first published in 1917, has also become renowned for the sheer poetry of its descriptions. A great scientist sensitive to the fascinations and beauty of the natural world tells of jumping fleas and slipper limpets; of buds and seeds; of bees' cells and rain drops; of the potter's thumb and the spider's web; of a film of soap and a bubble of oil; of a splash of a pebble in a pond.
Reviews / Votes
'Thompson describes, in great detail, how natural organisms evolve in response to the forces of survival to achieve fitness to purpose. Thompson demonstrates the causality of the shaping and design of natural organisms. For me, as a budding architect, this gave a clue to the concept of fitness to purpose: that architecture must evolve not as a formalistic shape-forming, but from a deep understanding of the programmatic, functional material and economic forces that shape it. This means an understanding of the material and structural aspects of a building, the life intended in a building (i.e. its human purpose) and the many forces (climatic and others) that must be responded to in the process. ... [the book is] as topical and significant today, going forward, as [it was], for me, 60 years ago.' Moshe Safdie, Architektura KontekstyMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
181 Halftones, unspecified
Dimensions
Height: 216 mm
Width: 140 mm
Thickness: 21 mm
Weight
465 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-107-67256-7 (9781107672567)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson | John Tyler Bonner
On Growth and Form
E-Book
05/2014
1st Edition
Cambridge University Press
€15.99
Available for download
D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson
On Growth and Form
E-Book
05/2014
Cambridge University Press
€13.49
Available for download
Previous edition
D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson | John Tyler Bonner
On Growth and Form
Foreword by J. Gould. Edited by J. T. Bonner
Book
07/1992
Cambridge University Press
€28.46
Article exhausted; check for reprint
Content
Introduction John Tyler Bonner; 1. Introductory; 2. On magnitude; 3. The forms of cells; 4. The forms of tissues, of cell-aggregates; 5. On spicules and spicular skeletons; 6. The equiangular spiral; 7. The shapes of horns and of teeth or tusks; 8. On form and mechanical efficiency; 9. On the theory of transformations, or the comparison of related forms; 10. Epilogue; Index.