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A review by bluestarfish
Crochet Coral Reef by Margaret Wertheim
4.0
The Crochet Coral Reef is an incredible project that is an embodiment of so much from community to maths to marine biology to the private/public spheres of society. Margaret and Christine Wertheim started crocheting corals and this reef project spread and grew much like real reefs do: slowly and surprisingly.
This book has gorgeous pictures of the global coral reefs and essays about the genesis of the project and some other musings along the way. There are some interesting explorations of the dichotomy of science and art that prevails in some thinking as well as a primer of geometry from Euclidean space to hyperbolic space - and how mathematician Dr Dania Taimina used crochet in 1997 to create tangible model to talk about hyperbolic forms. The community engagement aspect of this project is impressive and the book is in part self published so that the Institute for Figuring can name some 7000+ participants in the credits and it not be deemed a waste of paper by the publishers.
I can't remember when I first heard about the crocheted coral reef but it was years ago. I even talked about it at a job interview once years ago! It was really interesting to read about the project and its variations, and to see pictures of so many cool crocheted corals.
This book has gorgeous pictures of the global coral reefs and essays about the genesis of the project and some other musings along the way. There are some interesting explorations of the dichotomy of science and art that prevails in some thinking as well as a primer of geometry from Euclidean space to hyperbolic space - and how mathematician Dr Dania Taimina used crochet in 1997 to create tangible model to talk about hyperbolic forms. The community engagement aspect of this project is impressive and the book is in part self published so that the Institute for Figuring can name some 7000+ participants in the credits and it not be deemed a waste of paper by the publishers.
I can't remember when I first heard about the crocheted coral reef but it was years ago. I even talked about it at a job interview once years ago! It was really interesting to read about the project and its variations, and to see pictures of so many cool crocheted corals.