A full review by Matin Durrani, Deputy Editor of Physics World appears in the December issue of the magazine.
Snowflakes have puzzled Ian Stewart ever since he was a child. They possess a six-fold symmetry yet have tree-like branches that make every single snowflake different. But for Stewart - a maths professor at the University of Warwick - the shape of snowflakes is part of a much larger question.
Accompanied by an array of beautiful photographs of objects with patterns and symmetry - including galaxies, trees, clouds and animals - this coffee-table book can be dipped into and easily understood without referring to earlier chapters. Stewart's breathless prose may not suit everyone but his enthusiasm for the role of maths in nature's patterns shines through.
What Shape is a Snowflake?: Magical Numbers in Nature: Amazon UK/Amazon US