Julia E. Diggins 
String, Straight-edge and Shadow 
The Story of Geometry

From the early peoples who marvelled at the geometry of nature — the beehive and bird’s nest — to ancient civilisations who questioned beautiful geometric forms and asked ‘why?’, the story of geometry spans thousands of years.

Using only three simple tools — the string, the straight-edge and the shadow — human beings revealed the basic principles and constructions of elementary geometry. Weaving history and legend, this fascinating book reconstructs the discoveries of mathematics’s most famous figures. Through illustrations and diagrams, readers are able to follow the reasoning that lead to an ingenious proof of the Pythagorean theorem, an appreciation of the significance of the Golden Mean in art and architecture, or the construction of the five regular solids.

This insightful and engaging book makes geometry accessible to everyone. Readers will be fascinated with how the knowledge and wisdom of so many cultures helped shape our civilisation today.

String, Straight-edge and Shadow is also a useful and inspiring book for those teaching geometry in Steiner-Waldorf classrooms.

About the author

Julia E. Diggins studied mathematics and psychology in Washington, DC. While teaching mathematics in junior high school, she was awarded grants by the National Science Foundation and worked with members of the Maryland University Mathematics Project on the preparation of a new curriculum. She taught ‘modern’ mathematics for elementary school teachers at the University of Maryland, USA.