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meals may be skipped. But watching one’s self as it performs is a more sophisticated attitude. One needs this shift of focus to learn how exactlya certain action is carried out. This is indispensable, for example, for the functioning of the patients referred to above. But to the normal person it can also be a handicap, blocking intuitive invention and creation . Actors, for example, must learn to move naturallywhile observing the rules intuitively that become a part of their behavior on stage. Painters or sculptors may be hampered by the useful rules they have acquired, if these intellectual prescriptions overtake the impulse and the feel ofwhat looks right. CHAOS IN WONDERLAND: VISUAL ADVENTURES IN A FRACTAL WORLD by Clifford A. Pickover. St. Martin’s Griffin, New York, NY, U.S.A., 1995.303 pp. Paper, $18.95.ISBN: 0-312-12774X. Reviewed L y Istvrin Hargittai, Budapest TechnicalUniversity and Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest H-1521, Hungary . E-mail: cHARGITTAI@ch.bme.hu>. Take an amount of mathematics, science fiction, and computer graphics; add chemistry and classical literature, a little at a time, stirring well after each addition until the mixture reaches a well-defined consistency-not too soft, not too stiff;sprinkle it with some more traditional graphic art; and yet another beautiful Pickover book is ready to be served. Sounds easy?Well, it may be for Pickover,with his background , knowledge and experience, but I would warn anybody else not to be very casual about it. In one of Pickover’s dreams a spaceship , a hundred years from now, discovers the remnants of advanced life forms on Ganymede, one of the water-containing moons ofJupiter. Status in the societyof Ganymede’s creatures is determined by the beauty of their dream structures. In this, Pickover appears to be Eleanor Roosevelt’sfollower: “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” The book leads the reader through three different levels. The first is the level of dreams of many unusual creatures and structures and interactions. gentle introduction to the chaos science of intricate and unpredictable patterns in nature. This is the most fascinating level and one that has a great deal of practical relevance, as we would like to understand how fluids flow, how the stock market operates,what determines the behavior of social insects and human crowds and, not the least, how to forecast the weather. Pickover is eminently qualified for moving comfortably among all three levels, and what’s more, connecting them. He holds a Ph.D. from Yale’s Department of Molecular Biophysicsand Biochemistry and has authored over 200 papers and several successful books on computers, patterns, chaos and visualization. The book consists of three parts. The first presents the Lat66carfian civilization on Ganymede. The second is a description of the expedition of a human zoologist and his girlfriend and their discoveries of bizarre life forms and technologies. However strange some phenomena, such as the inorganic DNA, may appear, they are all based on sound knowledge of basics in chemistry, and in this the book is also excellent science popularization without being obvious, seeming forced or being patronizing to the reader. The third part is then a special Pickover smorgasbord of curiosities and personal computer uses. It is also here where the author communicates directly with his readers, giving recipes and even answering fan mail for his previous books. This book can be enjoyed at several levels and its readership may, as well, be of different backgrounds. The surprises it contains and the ease of communication give us assurance that there must be many more Pickover books to come, and we can hardly wait for them. RESISTING THE VIRTUAL LIFE edited byJames Brook and Iain A. Boal. City Lights, San Francisco, CA, U.S.A., 1995. 278 pp. $15.95. ISBN: 0-87286299 -2. Reviewed by Simon Penny, Art and Robotics , Department ofArt, College ofFine Arts, CarnegieMellon University, Pittsburgh, PA I52I3, U.S.A.E-mail: cpenny+@andrew.mu.edu>. above the din. Resisting the VirtualLifeis one of those voices, or rather, a small choir of such voices. This choir has its feet firmlyon terra firma, conveying a general sense that history...

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