Book Description
Benoit Mandelbrot discovered what is now called the M-Set in the early seventies and coined the term ‘fractal’ to describe the geometry behind it. The power and the beauty of fractals were only capable of being seen with the advent of computers, which become psychedelic windows on the infinite when using simple fractal equations. In 1992 Nigel Lesmoir-Gordon made the TV documentary, The Colors of Infinity about the Mandelbrot Set and fractals, which has since been seen right round the world. Nigel’s enthusiasm brought together a dream team of contributors for the film who all now contribute to the book tracking how fractals have developed since the film was made. Sir Arthur C Clarke presented the film and in the book gives a lucidly simple account of the mathematics of the M-Set. Benoit Mandelbrot, the Belgian mathematician explains how it began. Professor Michael Barnsley, the computer graphics researcher who developed fractal image compression technology, explains the applications of the breakthroughs. Professor Ian Stewart, author of Does God Play Dice? adds his insights into the beautifully simple equation that gives birth to fractals. Two of the most interesting applications of fractal geometry, reflected by the two new contributors to the book, are to the Internet and to the Stock Market. Dr Gary Flake, Chief Technology Officer at Overture, the leading provider of commercial search on the Internet and just taken over by Yahoo for 1.6 billion dollars, discusses the profoundly fractal nature of the Web in his article: The Self-ish Web. Robert Prechter Jr is President of Elliott Wave International, Inc. and founder of the Socionomics Institute. His latest title is Socionomics: The Science of History and Social Prediction (2003). He writes about how fractals can help us understand the oscillations of stock markets. In the back of the book is a DVD of the original documentary with soundtrack by David Gilmour of Pink Floyd PLUS a 30-minute fractal animation to the music of members of Quintessence.


About the Author
Nigel Lesmoir-Gordon has published poems and short stories in the UK, the US, and France. He formed his first film production company in 1976, and worked for Donovan, Pink Floyd, 10cc, Joe Cocker, Wings, and Leo Sayer. Gordon Films UK was formed in 1995 to produce the award-winning television documentary "The Colours of Infinity". His first book was "Introducing Fractal Geometry".

FROM THE PUBLISHER

The world￯﾿ﾽs foremost names in the field of Fractal Geometry have been gathered for the first time to explain recent developments in the science and application of fractals, the mathematics of roughness, from the Stockmarket to the Web! This fully illustrated book contains a DVD of the groundbreaking documentary film with soundtrack by David Gilmour, PLUS a half hour fractal animation chillout movie.

Contains a DVD of the groundbreaking documentary film with soundtrack by David Gilmour, PLUS a half hour fractal animation chillout movie.

The original documentary - The Colours of Infinity has been screened in over 50 countries. When Nigel Lesmoir-Gordon made it, his enthusiasm brought together a dream team of the world￯﾿ﾽs founders and leaders of fractal geometry to describe how it has developed. Now Lesmoir-Gordon brings Clarke, Mandelbrot, Barnsley and Stewart together again with some new thinkers to reflect on the many theoretical, practical, commercial and artistic ways in which fractals have developed since the film was made.