Back to the library
After almost half a year I have to bring back The Self-Made Tapestry: Pattern Formation in Nature by Philip Ball (blog). I'm glad that someone else is interested in this book and this subject. I'm sad that I'm parting with it. I finished reading it a while back but I really wanted to finish going back over it listing all the interesting things in it for follow-up. I should get my own copy.
In chapter 1 he talks about how patterns arise from "symmetry breaking". Symmetry in nature though arises in conjunction with random action rather than orderly ones. When there is are constraints on an otherwise random activity, that's when patterns form. The book goes on to describe an astonishing range of phenomena and how we understand them in terms of the basic forces in operation and the characteristic patterns (or non-patterned chaos) they form. It's awesome in the truest sense of the word. A lot of the phenomena talked about is everyday stuff you see in the kitchen, bathroom, and backyard. The appendices describe some experiments you can do in your garage.