What do Schrödinger's wave functions, Escher's intricate tiling patterns and chemistry's latest marvel, buckminsterfullerene, have in common?

This stunning book, written by two world-famous scientists, introduces the reader to one of nature's most fundamental, and ubiquitous, phenomena: Symmetry.

Enormous in scope, this scientific tour-de-force covers topics as diverse as quantum mechanics, stereochemistry, Penrose tilings and Raphael's Madonna. The authors connect these apparently unrelated fields in a completely non-mathematical fashion, which should appeal to the general and specialist reader alike.

Lucidly written and beautifully illustrated, this book provides an eminently readable discussion of the omnipresent concept of symmetry, its application in all branches of science, and its perception in nature, art and elsewhere.