Before you take on reading this blog post, I am
giving you fair warning! It is long and I am passionate about the subject because changed the way I look at the world.
It gave me HOPE. I truly believed that I had no artistic ability at all. After
reading this book, as a sophomore in college (oh so many years ago), I had a
new understanding of the interconnectedness of art, math, science, literature and
music. Was it possible that I did have some artistic talent somewhere deep inside
my being? Maybe I could harness some of
the my mathematical skills and apply them to art? Read on...
Okay, I
am a total math geek. I have always loved math and after working in civil
engineering for a number of years, I decided to go back to school and work on a
PhD. in Statistics. How does that relate to graphic design, you ask? Well, it
really does more than you can imagine. As
I said when I was a sophomore in college, I read a book that rocked my world. It was entitled Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid
by Douglas R. Hofstadter. In it, he discussed the connection between math, art
and music - specifically the mathematician Kurt Gödel, artist M.C Escher, and
musician J.S. Bach. It also tied in literary and historical findings. It
borrows from author Lewis Carroll (Alice in Wonderland) in that each chapter
has a dialogue between historic characters like Achilles and the Tortoise. This
book made me see how everything - even the most obscure mathematical findings -
are interconnected in our world, through art, pattern, music, and ideas. Again,
the relationship of the drawings of Escher and the mathematical idea of
tessellations (that I was studying) made me look for patterns all around me. I
was totally oblivious to these beautiful patterns before reading this book and
studying mathematics.
Knowledge is doubling at an astounding rate -
nearly every 18 months now according to many experts. Since the book was
written in 1979, many of the ideas in the book have been expanded to the nth
degree - chaos theory, fractals, fuzzy set theory, number theory - yet the
connection remains unending - the connection between math, art, literature, and
music. To me, this represents the connection between creativity and the quest
for knowledge. The connection between that makes it possible for everyone to find artistic, mathematical, and musical ability within themselves no matter how deeply they believe it to be buried.
Okay, now onto the book cover... The title of the
book is definitely the first thing that catches the eye. The cream colored,
slightly rounded, all-cap letters on the black background are striking because
of the high contrast. I looked for a typeface but I couldn't find anything like
it. Does anyone know of anything similar?
The
author's name is written in the same typeface and color but has a thin black
stroke. The rest of the text is in Helvetica
of varying weights and sizes. I love the wood block that is carved such that
projections show the letters G, E, and B.
It is in the style of the engineering orthographic projection. The color scheme is black, cream, and gold (which
doesn't scan well). Very clever. Very clean.
Source: Douglas R. Hofstadter, Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid, Basic Books, Inc., New York, NY 1979
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