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Klaus Mainzer. Walter de Gruyter: Berlin, 1996. 3-11012990-6. (First English edition of Symmetrien der Natur. Walter de Gruyter: Berlin, 1988.) 659 pp + 20 pp. Index.
Mainzer's work is what it advertises itself to be: a compendious handbook of discoveries of symmetries, particularly in mathematics and the natural sciences, and their representation in theories, in philosophy of science, and to a lesser degree in technology and broader culture. Among over a hundred distinguishable areas of study considered are, for example, the following: illustrations and a cursory discussion of symmetrical art from Navajo, Aztec, Indian, and Chinese sources; a few pages on the mechanism of the...