Theodore A. Cook (1867–1928)

Theodore Andrea Cook (1867–1928), with a deep background in sport and literature, traveled in Europe during the early Twentieth Century and published authoritative works on French and English history, Leonardo da Vinci, and sculpture among other subjects. In 1910 he became editor of The Field: The County Gentleman’s Newspaper until his death in 1928. In his passionate sleuthing of the open-ended spiral curve in this book he uncovers what he sees as a beautiful truth foundational to the show more structure of plants, shells, physiology, the periodic table, animal horns, and galaxies. (Sometimes the horns of goats are morphological indications of domestication, a physiological indicator that always strikes me whenever I encounter it.) The Curves of Life explores such significances through 426 illustrations from a Narwhal's tusk to rare seashells to exquisite architecture. No less than Martin Gardner said of this work, "This is the classic reference on how the golden ratio applies to spirals and helices in nature."...

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I have always been fascinated by the ubiquity of spirals, and this book is a splendid treatise thereon.