In recent years several books on mathematics have been
published, presenting intriguing pieces of the subject. This book
also presents some interesting gems, but in the service of explaining
one of the big quests of mathematics: the discovery and
classification of all the basic building blocks for symmetry. Some
mathematicians were sceptical of explaining it in a non-technical
way, but others were very encouraging, and I would like to thank
them. In particular I owe thanks to those mathematicians who
read all, or large parts, of the manuscript: Jon Alperin, John
Conway, Bernd Fischer, Bill Kantor, and Richard Weiss. I also
thank my son and daughter who were always positive about the
outcome, and finally my editor Latha Menon who made very
helpful criticisms.