Michell John

Galileo described the universe as a large book written in the language of mathematics, which can only be read by those with knowledge of its characters triangles, circles and other geometrical figures. In "How the World Is Made", John Michell explains how ancient peoples who grasped the timeless principles of sacred geometry were able to create flourishing societies. His more than 300 colour illustrations reveal the secret code within these geometrical figures and how they express the spiritual meanings in the key numbers of 1 through 12. He identifies the various regular shapes and shows their constructions, their natural symbolism, their meetings, matings and ways of breeding, and, their functions within the universal order. In the process, Michell helps us see the world in a new light. Disparate shapes and their corresponding numbers are woven together, resolving themselves into an all-inclusive world image that pattern in the heavens, as Socrates called it, which anyone can find and establish within themselves.

If you have ever thatched a roof, measured a skull, stuffed a rabbit or walked on a whale, you may recognize some of these tools. Or, if you admire the work of Warhol, Duchamp and Cornell, you will understand the fascination of these accidental masterpieces of the everyday. Some are the tools of vanished trades, others anonymous implements of simpler cultures, but all have been chosen for their intriguing functions and their elegant, suggestive forms, whether for Hitting Cutting Gripping Holding Rubbing Shielding Moulding Spreading or Testing