It is notable as it is the first comprehensive volume on the computer simulation of certain patterns in nature found in plant development (L-systems).
[3] Peter Antonelli, reviewing the book in SIAM Review, writes that it presents a "beautifully designed 'coffee-table-book'" summary of Lindenmayer's school of thought, explaining how Algorithmic Language Theory, like Noam Chomsky's theory of grammar, can describe how repeated structural units can arrange themselves.
Niklas suggests that those who wonder about how graphic artists create "the magnificent cyber-floras that sway and grow so realistically in the movies", and those who admire plant symmetry will enjoy the book.
He is more skeptical about its claim to serious science as the book "fails to educate its readers" about the challenge of understanding plant form in terms of developmental biology.
Therefore he believes the book falls short, the dazzling beauty of fractals not proving their relevance to biology.