It's worth looking at ahem unauthorised versions before buying, just to check what they're like.
The Beauty of Fractals contains a lot of colour plates with images that were remarkable for 1986. There's plenty of math on every page. (It really crams a lot of math in).
The Science of Fractal Images is a bit longer. It has fewer colour plates. There's a bit less math (or maybe it's just spread out a bit more?) and there are some pseudo-code descriptions of algorithms.
The other two are much lighter. AK Dewdney's books were aimed at general readers of Scientific American who had access to a home computer. Computers, Pattern Chaos, and Beauty is eclectic. There's some math, and plenty of pseudocode examples.
Being honest: I don't know how well they've aged. Other people might have better descriptions, or alternative suggestions?
The Beauty of Fractals contains a lot of colour plates with images that were remarkable for 1986. There's plenty of math on every page. (It really crams a lot of math in).
The Science of Fractal Images is a bit longer. It has fewer colour plates. There's a bit less math (or maybe it's just spread out a bit more?) and there are some pseudo-code descriptions of algorithms.
The other two are much lighter. AK Dewdney's books were aimed at general readers of Scientific American who had access to a home computer. Computers, Pattern Chaos, and Beauty is eclectic. There's some math, and plenty of pseudocode examples.
Being honest: I don't know how well they've aged. Other people might have better descriptions, or alternative suggestions?