Consciousness, Literature and the Arts
Archive
Volume 11 Number 1, April 2010
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Ball, Philip. Nature’s Patterns: A tapestry in three parts. Oxford: O.U.P.2009. Shapes (308) , Flow (190) and Branches (221). Total pages: 719. Hardback. £ 14.99 ea. ISBNs Shapes. 978-0-19-923796-8; Flow. 978-0-19-923797-5 Branches 978-0-19-923798-2
Reviewed by
Vaal University of Technology
The trilogy comprising Shapes, Flow and Branches comes at an opportune moment in the development of approaches to education. Within the last generation approaches to pedagogy have moved from liberal humanism, through modularization and outcomes-based education to the present concern with multi-, inter- and trans-disciplinary (MIT) approaches reflective of the era of super-complexity that we find ourselves in. Of course it is an old truism that states that the only certainty in the living experience is change and within the next decade the ground might well have shifted to yet another approach which, to attempt at this stage to determine, would represent a grand act of crystal-ball gazing. To the extent however that inter-disciplinarity in one form or another involves a wide and more comprehensive approach, it would not be unreasonable to anticipate a return to some or other form of holistic education. In any event Nature’s Patterns will make a valuable contribution to pedagogy at various levels because it has an MIT approach which provides teachers and lecturers with hard-copy reference works, written from this perspective, that have up till now tended to be thin on the ground.
Behind modernist enquiry in science and philosophy lies the notion that it is possible to discover a non-esoteric framework that is both rational and universal and for this to exist there must be a common set of conventions upon which to ground concepts of truth. Such conventions are established within disciplines and herein lies the rub. Inter-disciplinarity is a disruptive force because it challenges the universality of the founding frameworks of discreet disciplines by bringing together mindsets from a range of different disciplines. As Richard Rorty (1979: 159) pointed out, perceived truth amounts to a ‘victory of argument’ rather than a reflection of reality. It appears then that the continuance of debate constitutes the post-modern epistemological methodology. Nature’s Patterns provides us with a multi-disciplinary consideration of the concepts of shapes, flow and branches as we encounter these in our everyday lives. Through an holistic approach new truths emerge.
This is the kind of writing that requires many readings and it is likely that readers will return again and again to this rich material. It is recommended therefore that this trilogy be acquired for both institutional and personal reference libraries. Whilst Nature’s Patterns is highly recommended a word of caution may be appropriate. Ball draws on an astonishing range of disciplines in all three volumes and inevitably readers will find themselves reading well beyond fields with which they are familiar. On the other hand Ball must address the matter in a detailed enough way so as to satisfy the informed reader in particular disciplines without losing the uninformed reader. This is a tough balancing act. The use of a couple of cartoons on page one of the first volume seems to be an attempt to get and hold the attention of his disparate readership. He also uses a lighter tone in many places where complex concepts are being explored. So for example the lead-in to a footnote on the mathematical description of the shape of a pebble is: ‘ OK, you asked for it.’ In general the footnotes are genuinely helpful and there is good cross-referencing.The only major criticism that this reviewer has with all three volumes is with the quality of the black and white photographic images. The colour images are universally well reproduced on suitable gloss paper but the black and white images are flat and grey with insufficient contrast and impression of texture. This tends to be problematic when the reader is invited to perceive, for example, the character of linear dunes (See Fig. 4.4 in Flow p.84). Similarly the lack of contrast between dune and sky in Fig. 4.5 on the facing page provides yet another example of the need to introduce more contrast into the images.
In terms of presentation Oxford University Press should consider presenting these volumes as a boxed set to encourage the purchase and reading of all three.