The Golden Mean

A startlingly original first novel by “this generation’s answer to Alice Munro” (The Vancouver Sun)—a bold reimagining of one of history’s most intriguing relationships: between legendary philosopher Aristotle and his most famous pupil, the young Alexander the Great. 342 BC: Aristotle is reluctant to set aside his own ambitions in order to tutor Alexander, the rebellious son of his boyhood friend Philip of Macedon. But the philosopher soon comes to realize that teaching this charming, surprising, sometimes horrifying teenager—heir to the Macedonian throne, forced onto the battlefield before his time—is a necessity amid the ever more sinister intrigues of Philip’s court. Told in the brilliantly rendered voice of Aristotle—keenly intelligent, often darkly funny—The Golden Mean brings ancient Greece to vivid life via the story of this remarkable friendship between two towering figures, innovator and conqueror, whose views of the world still resonate today.

Shortlisted for the prestigious Giller Prize and the Governor General's Award Macedon. 367 BC. Philip II is bringing war to Persia. Forged in the warrior culture of Macedonia, the time has come for his young son Alexander to take up his inheritance of blood and obedience to the sword. It is a training that has made the boy sadistic; fiercely brilliant, but unstable. A dangerous trait in a king fated to rule the vastest empire of the ancient world. Compelled to teach this startling, precocious, sometimes horrifying child, Aristotle soon realises that what the boy needs most to learn - thrown before his time onto his father's battlefields - is the lesson of the golden mean, the elusive balance between extremes that Aristotle hopes will mitigate the boy's will to conquer in this age of fighting heroes...

This enlightening and gorgeously illustrated book explores the beauty and mystery of the divine proportion in art, architecture, nature, and beyond. From the pyramids of Giza, to quasicrystals, to the proportions of the human face, the golden ratio has an infinite capacity to generate shapes with exquisite properties. Author Gary Meisner has spent decades researching the subject, investigating and collaborating with people across the globe in dozens of professions and walks of life. In The Golden Ratio, he shares his enlightening journey. Exploring the long history of this fascinating number, as well as new insights into its power and potential applications, The Golden Ratio invites you to take a new look at this timeless topic.

What was the golden secret known to Leonardo da Vinci, Kepler, Plato and the ancient magicians? Can there really be a key to nature and life itself? In this small but compact volume internationally renowned divine proportion supersleuth Dr Olsen unravels perhaps the greatest mystery of all time, a code that seems to underly life, the universe and everything, a pattern we instinctively recognise as beautiful, and which nature herself uses at every scale. Designed for artists and scientists alike, this is the smallest, densest and most beautiful book on the golden section ever produced. WOODEN BOOKS are small but packed with information. "e;Fascinating"e; FINANCIAL TIMES. "e;Beautiful"e; LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS. "e;Rich and Artful"e; THE LANCET. "e;Genuinely mind-expanding"e; FORTEAN TIMES. "e;Excellent"e; NEW SCIENTIST. "e;Stunning"e; NEW YORK TIMES. Small books, big ideas.

Sabine—I was sure I understood. Yet you were not here when I returned and there was no sign that you ever had been here.... Today comes your card saying you were in this house for three days after my return. I am bewildered. I need you badly. – GriffinIn this volume of the phenomenal, best-selling quartet begun with Griffin & Sabine and continued in Sabine's Notebook, the mystery of the two artists deepens, their questions grow more urgent. New obstacles (including a sinister intruder) test the tenacity of their passion, and in each letter or postcard, painting and prose are even more richly intertwined.With over 50 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and one million copies in print, the first three volumes of this unique quartet have captured the imagination of readers and reviewers across the country.

Aristotle's "Nicomachean Ethics" is considered to be one of the most important treatises on ethics ever written. In an incredibly detailed study of virtue and vice in man, Aristotle examines one of the most central themes to man, the nature of goodness itself. In Aristotle's "Nicomachean Ethics," he asserts that virtue is essential to happiness and that man must live in accordance with the "doctrine of the mean" (the balance between excess and deficiency) to achieve such happiness.

What exactly is the Golden Ratio? How was it discovered? Where is it found? These questions and more are thoroughly explained in this engaging tour of one of mathematics' most interesting phenomena. The authors trace the appearance of the Golden Ratio throughout history, demonstrate a variety of ingenious techniques used to construct it, and illustrate the many surprising geometric figures in which the Golden Ratio is embedded. Requiring no more than an elementary knowledge of geometry and algebra, the authors give readers a new appreciation of the indispensable qualities and inherent beauty of mathematics.