Last week, I took a trip down to San Francisco to visit my brother. While there we tried to see the major sights of the area, and this
included a trip to the
Monte Ray Aquarium. It was fun, and there were lots of neat animals, but in the gift shop I picked up a book by Ernst
Haeckel, called "Art Forms in Nature". I had heard of the scientist before, he is frequently used in those poorly made creationist arguments, so I was intrigued to see his work.
I thought it was beautiful and amazing. Not only is it a great scientific cataloging of marine life, but the pictures are wonderful works of art in their own right. He manages to combine organic details with an almost mathematical attention to symmetry and form. I found it
fascinating, and have included some plates from the book for you to look at:
