Unicycle unravels the ethics of nature with an alternative math - and fiction. The history of experimental science confirms that nature is fundamentally asymmetric; it is increasingly certain that no pure symmetry will ever be found, even by our most sophisticated machines. Travel the reasons for this absence and discover nature's balance anew. Explore the interconnected maze of consequences for civilization, religion, consciousness, and the soul. The plot takes a series of deductive steps from a single, narrow logical proof to unfold a new progressive rationalism, anchored in the nature of asymmetric change. Equal opportunity is discovered in the very foundations of matter, as an ethic to guide technological power and improve quality of life. The mathematical steps are expressed with mythological tales, which gain a realism of their own through the deductions. Nature comes to life in fiction in innovative ways, along with the characters who piece together the narrative by a river in Maine. ***** "Very scrupulously set out. It is extremely well written and beautifully literate." -Dr. Diane Collinson, author of Plain English, Fifty Major Philosophers, Fifty Eastern Thinkers, coauthor of works including the Biographical Dictionary of Twentieth-Century Philosophers ***** "A provocative book by a serious thinker, well worth the reader's time." -William A. Haviland, PhD, professor emeritus and founder of the Department of Anthropology at the University of Vermont, coauthor of textbooks including Cultural Anthropology and Evolution and Prehistory ***** "This book contains some serious mathematics - smart, thought-provoking, and engrossing." -William H. Barker, PhD, Isaac Henry Wing Professor of Mathematics, Bowdoin College, coauthor of the textbook Continuous Symmetry: From Euclid to Klein ***** "Unicycle is an important book. I am very impressed. It covers a lot of territory, and it is very thoughtful and even charming. The math and logic are understandable to the interdisciplinary reader. I agreed with everything the book has to say." -Esther Pasztory, PhD, Lisa and Bernard Selz Professor Emeritus in Pre-Columbian Art History and Archaeology, Columbia University, author of groundbreaking books including, Thinking with Things, Aztec Art, and Teotihuacan: An Experiment in Living ***** "An eloquent explanation, with spare logic and excellent argument. In my critical thinking class, my students study the core ideals of the Enlightenment; this book's world view gives me a position from which to triangulate between absolutism and relativism and illuminates all three." -David S. Cook, MA, author of Above the Gravel Bar: The Native Canoe Routes of Maine and History of the 3rd Maine Infantry Regiment ***** Paul Cornell du Houx was born in Los Angeles, California, and grew up mainly in Switzerland, England, and Southern Ireland. He is a graduate of Winchester College in the UK and Amherst College in Massachusetts, with a degree in economics and French. He is the author of Presence de Flaubert, a detailed discovery of "aesthetic mysticism" in the works of Gustave Flaubert. Paul's blog is at Riverofasymmetry.com."