# Geometry books with beautiful diagrams

What are some geometry books with particularly beautiful diagrams? Old or new. Could be on 'standard' material or specialised on one particular topic. Something for the connoisseur of mathematical beauty in all of us to savour.

• Do you consider a picture of $\operatorname{Spec} Z$ a beautiful geometrical diagram? – Potato Jul 5 '13 at 20:10

The book by Fomenko, Fuchs http://www.math.columbia.edu/~khovanov/algtop2013/Fuchs1.pdf has amazing pictures by one of the authors. Pictures are a bit surreal, but there are explanations of the illustrations. I really love this book!

• +1 for this one. Amazing - definetely, beautiful - that's a matter of taste (personally I like them a lot), however, a bit surreal - that is a very big understatement. – dtldarek Jul 5 '13 at 20:24

Please see the MO question, "Are there other nice math books close to the style of Tristan Needham?", which I feel pretty much answers your question.

• That is a beautiful thread, but I do feel that there is space for a more dedicated geometry book thread - think of all the spirals and conics and polyhedra there are! – Marius Kempe Jul 5 '13 at 21:33

Maybe Byrne's edition of the first six books of Euclid's Elements.

I liked the book by Fukagawa and Rothman on Japanese temple geometry problems.

I would definitely suggest you take a look at George Francis' book A Topological Picturebook. It is full of beautiful and intricate drawings of surfaces and whatnot. I have never really read the book, but ever since I first looked at the book in my university library, I can't help but glance through it every time I see it on shelves just to take a look at those beautiful pictures.

• the chalkboard diagrams are just breathtaking. i mean, a 3d rendering tells a lot, but that stuff is just pure art – citedcorpse Jul 5 '13 at 20:52

Probably one of the most fabulous is the fractal geometry of nature by Mandelbrot.