The Golden Number Ratio Principle

“Not only is this book a most excellent and concise introduction to the art, history, math, and science of the golden number, but it also calls us to adventure, inspiring us to study and use PHI in our own art, design, and life philosophies. It’s filled with beautiful classical art and contemporary photography testifying to the beauty of the golden ratio. I especially loved the golden ratio ballerina photography.” –Kelly Bennett

A few years back the golden ratio began showing up in award-winning-physicist Dr. Elliot McGucken’s fine art photography. The golden harmonies—golden rectangles, triangles, and spirals—were appearing in his bestselling art, as well as in his published photographs including the cover of N-Photo magazine. “Why is this?” Dr. E simply asked. And so Dr. E set off on an epic journey, culminating in the “Golden Number Ratio Principle,” which provides the scientific, artistic, and mathematical reasons for the beauty of PHI.

Filled with classical art, architecture, photography, and simple, commonsense explanations and diagrams, this book is a love letter for all the fans and aficionados of the golden ratio. For the first time in the history of the golden number, the scientific, mathematical, and aesthetic reasons for the golden cut's inherent beauty are married in a single, simple principle. The artistic and scientific wisdom in this concise book may be used to not only easily refute the myriad skeptics and naysayers, but to recruit and reform them.

From the dawn of time, the golden ratio has been associated with beauty in humanity's art and temples all about the watery globe. As this book details, golden ratio harmonies have exalted art ranging from Michelangelo's David and his Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, to the Venus de Milo, to Sandro Botticelli's The Birth of Venus, to the Mona Lisa, to Salvador Dali’s Sacrament of the Last Supper. Not only did the golden ratio guide the construction of the ancient pyramids and Greek Parthenon, but it also exalted the compositions of Ansel Adams's photographs and John Ford's films including Stagecoach.

But what makes PHI beautiful? *Why* do we associate this irrational number, approximated as 1.618, with beauty? Dr. E's Golden Ratio Principle presents the relatively recent science which accounts for the golden ratio’s prevalence in biology, marrying the science to commonsense reasons, offering an answer as to why we see PHI as beautiful.

An ongoing debate rages as to the relevance and prevalence of the golden ratio in art, design, and nature. As this book will thoroughly demonstrate via art, math, and science, the golden ratio exalts beauty. So the greater question becomes whether or not you wish to join the golden ratio fellowship and ride forth with noble poet-warriors including Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Kepler, Botticelli, Seurat, Salvador Dali, and genius designers at Apple. Do you wish to ride with the creators of famous logos for Ferrari, National Geographic, and Tesla—with Johannes Vermeer, Picasso, and Phidias (the designer of the Parthenon and Greek temples)? If you wish to ride on out towards eternity with the Golden Number Ratio Fellowship, then this book is for you. If you are a golden ratio skeptic and/or debunker, this book is also for you. For the Tao of the golden ratio is open to all, and no amount of skepticism nor debunking can tarnish its golden sheen. For Leonardo da Vinci noted that," Truth is time's daughter," and as Keats noted that "truth is beauty, and beauty truth," the beauty of the golden ratio will exalt over time.

Ask not only, “Did the Renaissance painters use the Golden Ratio?”, but also ask, “Do I wish to exalt a renaissance by using PHI in my own art and creations?” The answer for the first question is yes! And Dr. E hopes the answer to the second question is the same. Either way, it’s an honor to serve you with the truth and beauty of PHI.