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Harmonograph: A Visual Guide to the Mathematics of Music (Wooden Books) | 
 enlarge | Author: Anthony Ashton
Publisher: Walker & Company
Category: Book
List Price: $12.00
Buy New: $6.07
You Save: $5.93 (49%)
New (32) Used (10) Collectible (1) from $5.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  15 reviews
Sales Rank: 121377
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 64
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 6.8 x 5.7 x 0.5
ISBN: 0802714099
Dewey Decimal Number: 781.2
EAN: 9780802714091
ASIN: 0802714099
Publication Date: April 1, 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: New book. Fast Shipping. May have small remainder mark.
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Product Description
During the nineteenth century, a remarkable scientific instrument known as a harmonograph revealed the beautiful patterns found in music. Harmonograph is an introduction to the evolution of simple harmonic theory, from the discoveries of Pythagoras to diatonic tuning and equal temperament. Beautiful drawings show the octave as triangle, the fifth as pentagram; diagrams show the principles of harmonics, overtones, and the monochord. Anthony Ashton examines the phenomenon of resonance in Chladni patterns, describes how to build a harmonograph of your own, and provides tables of world tuning systems. This inspiring book will appeal to musicians, mathematicians, designers, and artists alike.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 10 more reviews...
Not Really Music but Interesting All the Same December 30, 2008
Let me first say that I like this book and the visuals are incredible. But a harmonograph is essentially a spirograph with a PhD and the resulting pictures will not teach you about music. What they are is a fantastic example of how something both absolutely certain and very abstract like a musical third, which is just a ratio, can be represented graphically. Its almost like being able to make a graph of an emotion. They are beatuiful and artistic but not really an analytical tool in the traditional sense of a graph.
 Sound Made Visible February 8, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Humans have known or intuited that sound not only has form but it organizes matter.
Throughout history individuals have found ways to demonstrate (and make visible) this profound fact.
We know that music & sound is vibration. (within the audible range)
Scientists and mystics understand that EVERYTHING is vibration.
Therefore Everything is Sound.
The notion that EVERYTHING is in perfect order & can ultimately be understood by number is purely a Pythagorean notion. "Harmony of the Spheres" were his expression that "our solar system, the cosmos, everything that IS... IS a perfect symphony".
The "Harmonograph" is a simple classic for the individual interested this subject.
I recommend it for children and adults alike.
A delightful little book January 15, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I didn't know what quite to expect with this book; I wasn't familiar with the term "harmonograph" before getting this text.
This is a small book with about 25 topics, each discussed on 1 or 2 pages. It links together many concepts from our past (including the 19th century harmonograph) and the mathematics underneath them. This is one book which satisfyingly explains the concept of an even-tempered scale -- something I had been pondering for a long time.
You could say this book is a group of different stories about the vibrations in music, and the relationship between those vibrations. Vibrations are important for us to understand: our bones float; our bodies are springy and resilient. The math and physics of vibrations -- scientists call it "simple harmonic motion" -- can get rather tricky. Most of use stop our math classes before they get to this point. On the other hand, there are many topics in this field that are understandable without all of those complicated scribbles; this book lovingly explores many of them.
My main gripe is that there are few links for the DIY types to go try this stuff hands-on. There must be some websites which have virtual harmonographs; the author should have found these. And it's a darn shame that so few of these machines are around. I make it a point of seeing lots of science museums; I've never seen a harmonograph.
We forget how many wonderful things before we had computers. Things like the harmonograph have a delightful physicality; that's something we've lost in our "modern" society.
I highly recommend this book to a young high-school student. There are hidden delights in the drawings and historical references. For such a small book, there is a surprising depth of detail.
I can't wait to explore the rest of this series.
Beautiful December 11, 2007
Short and easy to read with beautiful illustrations, this is a nice addition to your collection if you are interested in the connections between sounds and visuals.
 huh ??? November 12, 2007
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
After about 5 pages into this thing I found myslelf becoming more and more baffled, as the author continually threw out various terminology with no explanation of it. I kept at it for a while and it didn't get any better. He has all sorts of drawings and diagrams, but again -- he does not define his terms or even give you a clue as to where find any definitions. If the book had a glossary this would be marginally tolerable, but it doesn't and it isn't. This is too bad, because the topic is fascinating and the author is obviously very knowlegeable. Unfortunately he seems incapable of sharing this knowlege with the reader.
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