I thought it was pretty good, if a bit odd at times. It didn't seem to get to the point until chapter 6 or so. The book itself is split into Nine chapters followed by ten appendices and notes on the text. Initially, the first two chapters talk about symmetry in different ways. For instance, human beings tend to find things that are symmetrical in some way to be more aesthetically pleasing to the eye. The book talks about such things as M.C. Escher etchings and drawings, musical pieces composed by J.S. Bach and Mozart, Latin Squares, Roulette, and the Pauli Exclusion Principle.

So then it gets into the Ancient Babylonians and how they discovered a technique to solve a quadratic equation. This isn't improved on until sometime in the Middle Ages on the cusp of the Renaissance when a series of unfortunate events happen to a number of greedy and self serving mathematicians. The Cubic is solved and some people find solutions independently, but some go and steal the technique I guess. This raises bitter feelings and resentment in terms of priority and University Positions. So with that, people moved on to a general solution of an equation have a 4th power, a quartic. Not sure if that spelling is right, but oh well. So they had at it for many years and this was all happening when Abel and Galois came into the picture.

Abel's biography is included and it is sad. I guess that is what happens when people don't appreciate genius. He dies young, but leaves some fantastic mathematics behind him. The same can be said of Galois. He got too caught up in politics back in the day and endangered himself. At least in my opinion.

Chapter six leads to groups. It talks about the 15-puzzle, the Rubik's Cube and a discussion on geometries that ignore the Parallel Postulate. Chapter seven discusses symmetry in nature. No more needs to be said. Chapter eight talks about such things as why men find women with hourglass figures to be attractive and other things. Chapter nine summarizes the input of Galois and Abel to modern mathematics.

All in all it was pretty good. It seemed to take some time to build up to a point, and that is my only problem with it. The language is accessible, and it doesn't get into heavy mathematics. Four out of five. ( )

Decisamente meno bello de "La Sezione aurea"; un po' affrettato, a volte privo di un vero e proprio filo conduttore che non sia quello della simmetria - spesso ho avuto l'impressione che tale concetto fosse usato in modo pretestuoso, e che alcuni argomenti fossero affrontati soltanto per esigenze di completezza.
La storia di Evariste Galois, in compenso, è raccontata con dovizia di particolari, lasciando spazio alle varie ipotesi sulle cause della sua morte.
Tutto sommato, è un libro interessante, ricco di spunti di riflessione; lascia però il sapore di una grande occasione che l'autore non ha sfruttato appieno. ( )

Like reading five books , so much information. I keep picturing Galois ( group theory ) as being Elric from Full Metal Alchemist. ( Probably not far off really ) " ANYTHING can be transformed ! " ( )

Una interessant aproximació a la teoria de grups i a les simetries barrejant matemàtiques amb les històries dramatiques de dos genis: Evariste Galois i Henrik Abel. ( )

Like reading five books , so much information. I keep picturing Galois ( group theory ) as being Elric from Full Metal Alchemist. ( Probably not far off really ) " ANYTHING can be transformed ! " ( )