Albert van der Schoot takes the reader on a fascinating journey through the long history of the golden ratio. The discoveries are astounding: Unlike the general view, the divine proportion did not have outstanding importance in antiquity. It also did not play the prominent role in the Renaissance which has been ascribed to it for a long time. When did the golden ratio actually achieve its virtually “holy“ status? The author shows that it was Romanticism which first put the golden ratio on a pedestal. In view of the threatening chasm between nature and culture, they saw the golden ratio as a bridge which could connect nature, art and psychology. With this impressive work, van der Schoot has completely rewritten an important chapter on the mythology of art and of the sciences.