I know, I’ve been talking about this book for the last week. It’s absolutely engrossing. I love mysteries, and this one keeps you turning the pages right to the end.
\nRobert Langdon is a Harvard symbologist on business in Paris. Sophie Neveu is a young cryptologist who works for the French police. Sophie’s grandfather, Jacques Sauniere, is the curator of the Louvre. The story opens with Sauniere being stalked and shot in the museum. In his last moments, he leaves clues for his granddaughter and Langdon to solve, to prevent the loss of the secret of the Priory of Sion.
\nThe author, Dan Brown, has done an incredible job of fashioning a work of fiction based on fact. It’s difficult occasionally to tell the dividing line between the two, and that sent me surfing the Internet for information. The page before the Prologue states that “All descriptions of artwork, architechture, documents, and secret rituals in this novel are accurate.” It also confirms that the Priory of Sion, a secret society founded in 1099 is a real organization, and that Opus Dei, is truly a Catholic sect with headquarters in New York City.<\/p>\n
\nOne of the first subjects Brown introduces in discussing the works of Da Vinci is the number PHI. (Clues in Da Vinci’s work lead the way to resolving Sauniere’s death, so Brown presents facts about the work to move the story forward)
\nAs a musician, I never had the chance to take classes in other forms of art, so I’ve never been introduced to the concept of PHI in art class. The number 1.618 is PHI. It’s also known as the “Divine Proportion.” Brown writes “PHI is generally considered the most beautiful number in the universe.”
\nPHI is derived from the Fibonacci sequence (more on this later). It turns out that PHI has a role as a natural building block of nature. Plants, animals, and even humans possess dimensional properties which adhere to the ratio of PHI to 1.
\nFor example, in a honeybee community, the females outnumber the males by 1.618 to 1.
\nThe ratio of each spiral to the next on a chambered Nautilus’ shell is 1.618 to 1.
\n“Sunflower seeds grow in opposing spirals.” The ratio of each spiral to the next is PHI to 1. This is also true of spiraled pinecone petals, leaf arrangement on plant stalks and insect segmentation.
\nDa Vinci studied corpses and discovered the Divine Proportion in human bone structure. The distance from the tip of your head to the floor, compared to the distance from your navel to the floor is PHI to 1.
\nThe distance from your shoulder to your finger tips, divided by the distance from your elbow to your fingertips will give you PHI. You’ll find the same ratio with hip to floor divided by knee to floor, finger joints, toes, and spinal divisions.
\nBrown presents all this information in a classroom setting, and it’s infinitely more interesting than my dry recitation of facts. I responded the same way as the fictional class, enjoying each example he provided.
\nThe point of this, is that we find that it’s not limited to nature, but it’s been used by artists and architects. The Parthenon, the pyramids in Egypt and the United Nations Building all use the Divine Proportion. Da Vinci, Michaelangelo, Durer and many other artists used the proportion in their paintings, and Beethoven, Mozart, Bartok, Shubert and Debussy are just a few musicians who have also used it in their compositions.
\nFascinating, isn’t it? Get the book, and see how Dan Brown carries it through his story.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I know, I’ve been talking about this book for the last week. It’s absolutely engrossing. I love mysteries, and this one keeps you turning the pages right to the end. Robert Langdon is a Harvard symbologist on business in Paris. … Continue reading