“From a distant vantage the [Mandelbrot] set resembles a squat wart-covered figure eight lying on its side. The inside of the figure is ominously black. Surrounding it is a halo colored electric white, which gives way to deep blues and blacks in the outer reaches of the plane.

Approaching the Mandelbrot set, one finds that each wart is a tiny figure shaped much like the parent set. Zooming in for a close look at one of the tiny figures, however, opens up an entirely different pattern: a riot of organic-looking tendrils and curlicues sweeps out in whorls and rows. Magnifying a curlicue reveals yet another scene: it is made up of pairs of whorls joined by bridges of filigree…, and in the center of these curlicues another version of the Mandelbrot set is found.

The magnified version is not quite the same Mandelbrot set. As the zoom continues, such objects seem to reappear, but a closer look always turns up differences. Things go on this way forever, infinitely various and frighteningly lovely.” (4)