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Tyler Volk is a professor in the Earth Systems Group of New York University’s Biology Department. He has taught courses in visual science and on patterns in time. Inspired by Gregory Bateson, who suggested that we concentrate on shapes, patterns and relations when studying anything from anthropology to cybernetics, Volk has written a fascinating study of patterns of patterns, or metapatterns. In Metapatterns (Columbia, £21.50/$31.50, ISBN 0 231 06750 X), he explores the constants – patterns – throughout inconstant nature and the sciences. Already appearing in bestseller charts in the US, it’s well worth a read.