» African Fractals: Modern Computing and Indigenous Design

African Fractals: Modern Computing and Indigenous Design Reviews

Customer Rating:
Summary: a good introduction to African mathematics and fractal geometry
Comment: This book starts out with a presentation of fractal geometry which is very comprehensible and enjoyable. Next it covers specific aspects of fractal geometry and their relation to African society, architecture, fashion, art, divination and games. This part of the book is very fascinating. I learned a lot about how recursion works and how it is used in African buildings and fashions in the chapter on recursion. Other chapters in this section are Geometric algorithms, Scaling, Numeric systems, Infinity and Complexity. They are all very interesting. The final section is on the implications of the fact that Africans used this kind of mathematics. The author emphasizes the application of African fractal geometry to education especially the education of African Americans who sometimes feel alienated from math classes which focus on the achievements of European peoples. One thing that the author stresses is that the fractal designs of, say city planning, made by African peoples are not more "natural" than the Western approach of dividing cities into rectangles. He says this assumption dovetails into a preconception of African societies as being somehow closer to nature and therefore unsophisticated. The author points out that fractal mathematics is hardly simple and also not easily intuited either. I did not find myself making this assumption but apparently some people do fall into this trap. Anyway, I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting an introduction, with applications, to fractal geometry and its use in African societies. I also recommend this book to educators looking for a way to get their students, regardless of their background, to be more interested in mathematics.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Connecting Africans ancient and modern
Comment: This is an amazing book! It clearly shows how many of the common things that people of African descent do have may scientific connections. Hair styles that are worn today by people of African descent, have been worn as far back to the ancient indigenous Africans known as the ancient Egyptians. So it really no surprise that there is mathematical and scientific knowledge being found today by scientist and scholars.

This book should be in every school and home in this country. I take that back, this book should be in every school globally.

Another scientific book that would make a great set for any school or home is, The African Unconscious. Written by Edward Bruce Bynum. You can find it here on Amazon.com.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: This book helps to render obsolete long-held myths.
Comment: Ron Eglash's brilliant work on Afrikan fractals helps to shatter long-held myths and misconceptions about Afrikans, the most pervasive and pernicious of which is the notion of Afrikans (both on the Motherland and in the Diaspora) as inactive agents in history. This work motivated me to complete mine on chaos theory and Afrikan fractals. My longer reviews of Eglash's book appear in the Nexus Network Journal (vol. 2, 2000:165-168) and the Journal of Third World Studies (vol. xviii, no. 1, 2001:237-239), each reflecting the publication's genre and disciplinary focus. Dr. Abdul Karim Bangura is a researcher-in-residence at the Center for Global Peace and a professor of International Relations in the School of International Service at American University, and the director of The African Institution in Washington, DC. He is the author of 21 books and more than 200 scholarly articles.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: An ingenious first, recognition of 'African' Maths.
Comment: This is a brilliant book. As an Architect, I was truly enlightened by the idea of the 'other' culture(s), having a valid scientific basis in fact. I was always told in Architectural school that the 'Africans',(including those in the diaspora) were a peoples without and writing systems, technological background and no culture. I'm glad to see evidence that this is not the truth. I thank the author for his contribution.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: An ingenious first, recognition of 'African' Maths.
Comment: This is a brilliant book. As an Architect, I was truly enlightened by the idea of the 'other' culture(s), having a valid scientific basis in fact. I was always told in Architectural school that the 'Africans',(including those in the diaspora) were a peoples without and writing systems, technological background and no culture. I'm glad to see evidence that this is not the truth. I thank the author for his contribution.

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