On the book's back cover a blurb from the
Journal of Recreational Mathematics calls the author, Clifford A. Pickover, "a perpetual idea machine...one of the most creative, original thinkers in the world today." Pickover gives us here so many striking and exciting examples of mathematical symmetries and relationships that we can only shake our heads in awe and wonder to ourselves as did the poet William Blake as he contemplated a "Tyger," "...What immortal hand or eye, could frame thy fearful symmetry?"
Magic squares are examined in unprecedented depth--the fascinating history in widely diverse civilizations and all the mathematical aspects told in a clear, even entertaining, way. The magic symmetries of the numerical squares are extended into circles, stars, cubes, pyramids, and even multiple dimensions, complete with explanations of method and with copious drawings and other illustrations. This is truly an awesome book, a masterpiece. On the very front edges of every science the investigators' considerations turn ultimately theological. Pickover gives us an example of this here, immersing us into the "Zen of Magic Squares, Circles, and Stars."
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