'What is a self, and how can a self come out of inaminate matter?' This book examines this riddle. Linking together the music of J S Bach, the graphic art of Escher and the mathematical theorems of Godel, as well as ideas drawn from logic, biology, psychology, physics and linguistics, it reveals the mysteries of human thought processes.

MC Escher is not a surrealist drawing us into his dream world, but an achitect of perfectly impossible worlds who presents the structurally unthinkable as though it were a law of nature. The resulting dimensional and perspectival illusions bring us into confromtation with the limitations of our sensory perception.

Boyer and Merzbach distill thousands of years of mathematics into this fascinating chronicle. From the Greeks to Godel, the mathematics is brilliant; the cast of characters is distinguished; the ebb and flow of ideas is everywhere evident. And, while tracing the development of European mathematics, the authors do not overlook the contributions of Chinese, Indian, and Arabic civilizations. Without

A dictionary of numbers that is arranged in order of magnitude. It exposes the fascinating facts about certain numbers and number sequences.

A comprehensive history of numbers and mathematics, in a three-volume set. It covers the art and science of numeration from Magnon Man to the electronic spreadsheet, and from Scandinavia to China, via the Classical World. There are explanatory figures and tables throughout.

Why did renowned Dutch graphic artist Maurits Cornelis Escher create the pictures? How did he construct them? And how are the various images Escher created interrelated? This book, including biographical data, illustrations, and explications of mathematical problems, offers answers to these and other questions.