Like a Bridge over Colored Water: A Mathematical Review of The Rainbow Bridge: Rainbows in Art, Myth, and Science, Volume 49, Number 11

This is a magnificent and scholarly book, exquisitely produced, and definitely not destined only for the coffee table. It is multifaceted in character, addressing rainbow-relevant aspects of mythology, religion, the history of art, art criticism, the history of optics, the theory of color, the philosophy of science , and advertising! The quality of the reproductions and photographs is superb. The authors are experts in meteorological optics, but their book draws on many other subdisci-plines. It is a challenge, therefore , to write a review about a book that contains no equations or explicit mathematical themes for what is primarily a mathematical audience. However, while the mathematical description of the rainbow may be hidden in this book, it is nonetheless present. Clearly, such a review runs the risk of giving a distorted picture of what the book is about, both by " unfolding " the hidden mathematics and suppressing, to some extent, other important and explicit themes: the connections with mythology, art, and science. To a degree this is inevitable, if such a weighted metric is to be used. Lee and Fraser are intent on exploring bridges from the rainbow to all the places listed above, and in the opinion of this reviewer they have succeeded admirably. The serious reader will glean much of value, and mathematicians in particular may benefit from the tantalizing hints of mathematical structure hidden in the photographs and graphics. Following an account of several themes present in the book that I found particularly appealing, some of the mathematical structure underlying and supporting the bridge between the rainbow and its optical description will be emphasized in this review. I have included several direct quotations to illustrate both the writing style and the features of the book that I found most intriguing. Frankly, I found some of the early chapters harder to appreciate than later ones. This is a reflection, no doubt, of my own educational deficiencies in the liberal arts; but upon completing the book, I was moved to suggest to the chair of the art department that it might be interesting to offer a team-taught graduate seminar in art, using this book as a text. He is now avidly reading my copy of the book. The ten chapters combined trace the rainbow bridge to " the gods " as a sign and symbol (" emblem and enigma "); to the " growing tension between scientific and …