“In short, the golden ratio represents an ideal. Given this function, the previously mentioned limit using Fibonacci numbers takes on additional weight. Essentially, the ratio between successive terms in Fibonacci’s sequence endeavors to reach the golden ratio, that paragon of perfection. As the terms ascend in value, their ratio gets closer and closer to being “golden” but will never reach perfection.”
(Page 262).
I received an advance review copy of The Right Amount of Brilliance free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. I was intrigued by this book’s description since the author included a picture of Pascal’s Triangle on the cover and began each chapter with an attribute of the famous triangle’s numbers—reflection, pyramids, power, etc. I hadn’t thought much about Pascal’s Triangle, Fibonacci numbers, and other mathematical wonders since the days when I was teaching gifted fifth and sixth graders in the 1980s. I will never forget how fascinated students were by the numbers represented in famous configurations. Back then, I spent lots of time sharing pictures of the Fibonacci numbers recognized in nature. I used the Golden Book of Mathematics, another source that used stories to illustrate these fascinating numbers. Reading The Right Amount of Brilliance recalled fond memories of teaching about the number of petals on many flowers being Fibonacci numbers and how spirals in nature depict these numbers. I couldn’t remember the numeric details of peacock feathers when Nicole Wachell used them as a symbol in the book. I looked it up, and it turns out the shape is a symmetrical phyllotaxis. Pinecones, pineapples, and sunflowers have spirals of adjacent Fibonacci numbers (usually 5, 8, 13, or 21), but the peacock’s feathers have the same count of spirals in both directions. I just displayed a set of peacock feathers in my home, and their symmetry is so satisfying to observe. The Right Amount of Brilliance is a story illustrating the symmetry and balance shared between twins using mathematical metaphors.
I am not sure I completely understood the significance of all the mathematical concepts that Nicole Wachell integrated with literature, but what I noticed was amazing. Pascal’s Triangle’s aspects grow increasingly more complex as the descriptions accumulate, and the story parallels the complexity of the numbers, patterns, and attributes.
The beginning of the book is the zero row of Pascal’s Triangle or nothing. The second chapter is the first row, which begins to show symmetry. Jake Washington, a forty-something planetary scientist at Berkely, accidentally meets his long-lost twin, Sebastian Barnabas, a mathematician at Stanford. Jake didn’t know he had been adopted, and Sebastian, raised by his biological mother, had been under the impression that his twin brother had died when they were three years old, the last time he remembers his being in his life. And, so we start to see the mirror images in the men’s lives.
As the story progresses, Jake and Sebastian get to know each other and learn about the influences in each other’s lives. A timeline is included in a subsequent chapter that further illustrates the mirror images of experiences. The mirror of the numbers on the triangle is used as a background and demonstration of the plot development. As life gets more complicated and we are introduced to the complexities of Jake’s marriage and adoptive parents as well as Sebastian’s love affairs and the twins’ biological mother, we are asked to examine the numbers on the diagonals of the triangle and understand the complexities in the relationships of the characters.
I was totally absorbed in the story that includes some fictional female mathematicians and scientists, which is very rare. The interconnections of the characters in the lives of Jake and Sebastion are carefully constructed to provide an entertaining story. Golden ratios, balance, and the infrequency of prime numbers are used to highlight themes of power, trust, deceit, perfection, and the pursuit of happiness. The drama includes corrupt lawyers, wrongful termination, gender discrimination, and other components of typical human interactions.
Both Jake and Sebastian are preoccupied with their academic pursuits and sometimes forget that others don’t appreciate the beauty of numbers, rocks, and other naturally occurring phenomena. These genius attributes make them quirky and memorable characters, and like numbers, their problems and issues are infinite and never entirely resolved.
