Attached Link: http://www.umcs.maine.edu/~markov/GoldenRatio.pdf

OK, there's two things here. One: the golden section occurs naturally, in plants, in seashells, even in the joints of your fingers. There's no objection to that.

Two: the golden section is "more beautiful", was used in construction of the Parthenon, or by Leonardo in "The Last Supper", etc. That's the one that is bunk. Popular bunk, but still bunk.

G. Markowsky. "Misconceptions about the Golden Ratio." College Mathematics Journal, vol. 23 (1992) pp. 2--19.
on-line, see the link above.

"How to Find the Golden Number without really trying."
Roger Fischler, Fibonacci Quarterly, 1981, Vol 19, pp 406--410.
description:
Another important paper that points out how taking measurements and averaging them will almost always produce an average near Phi. Case studies are data about the Great Pyramid of Cheops and the various theories propounded to explain its dimensions, the golden section in architecture, its use by Le Corbusier and Seurat and in the visual arts. He concludes that several of the works that purport to show Phi was used are, in fact, fallacious and "without any foundation whatever".