African Fractals: Modern Computing and Indigenous Design

This is a good book so far as the text goes, but the pictures are very disappointing.The text is an interesting review of fractals, mostly familiar territory but with some new insights. The biggest 'new insight' for me was the African strand to the story. In so many ways Ron Eglash shows fractal ideas turning up in African arts and communities. It is well written, thought provoking and deeply interesting.However, the pictures are all monochrome, and not even good quality monochrome. For example, I have a length of Ghanaian cloth at home which is woven in gorgeous, vibrant and contrasting colours. It has the scaling patterns explained in this book. The text tells me a lot that I did not know about this beautiful piece of weaving and adds to my appreciation of it. The illustration accompanying the text, by contrast, lacks contrast. It is a dark and murky black and white photo in poor focus. At every turn, whether showing sculptures or village landscapes, the intelligent, lively text is accompanied by dull and unattractive photography.Clearly the cost of full colour illustrations would be hard to bear for a book which is unlikely to have massive sales. But it would improve the book enormously to have better pictures. Even getting 'monochrome in good focus' would be a step forward.Five stars for the writing, only one for the pictures.