Snowflake, Seashell, Star
Colouring Adventures
in Numberland
By Alex Bellos with Edmund Harriss
Canongate, Sept 2015
Trade paperback: £12.99
ISBN 978 1 78211 788 9
Star rating: ****
I’m telling you upfront that I’m not the greatest fan of the
difficult-to-ignore colouring-books-for grown-ups phenomenon. I do get it – mindful relaxation, decision
making without consequences (pencils or markers?/what colour next?). I am glad
that talented artists have an opportunity for publishing success – colouring book
specialist is a whole new creative field. But, my personal reaction is that I’d
rather be crocheting a scarf or jumper – just as relaxing and something useful
produced. Until now.
Today I am featuring a themed colouring book that I can
really get excited about. I am so enthusiastic about it that I am blogging
about it on its publication date!
Snowflake, Seashell,
Star is an interactive mathematical colouring book. No – don’t shy away.
This is big fun. Fun and awe. It is a collaboration between Alex Bellos, who
writes about popular mathematics (he has a Guardian
maths/puzzle column and has written two bestselling books, Alex’s Adventures in Numberland and Alex Through the Looking-Glass) and Edmund Harriss, a well-known
mathematical artist.
The book is divided into two sections, with a total of 80
images. Upfront is the colouring section featuring exquisite patterns from
nature, optical illusions, tessellating shapes (they interlock, as in the art
of M.C. Escher). Just looking at these pages is a treat – they have a life all
their own, even before colour is applied. Part two of the book is interactive.
Here you will find sophisticated connect-the-dots pages and directed colouring
exercises (follow the sequence to get an impressive result). Wish my maths workbooks
had been like this!
Back-of-book is the reveal. It gives capsule descriptions of
the principles featured in the colouring pages of the book, explaining their mathematical significance in friendly
and accessible jargon.
So – congrats to Alex Bellos and Edmund Harriss for
producing a colouring book with a sharp new angle.
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| Tessellating fish on the back cover. |
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