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Philip Ball

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Philip Ball (born 1962) is an English science writer. He holds a degree in chemistry from Oxford and a doctorate in physics from Bristol University. He was an editor for the journal Nature for over 10 years. He now writes a regular column in Chemistry World. Ball's most-popular book is the 2004 Critical Mass: How One Things Leads to Another, winner of the 2005 Aventis Prize for Science Books. It examines a wide range of topics including the business cycle, random walks, phase transitions, bifurcation theory, traffic flow, Zipf's law, Small world phenomenon, catastrophe theory, the Prisoner's dilemma. The overall theme is one of applying modern mathematical models to social and economic phenomena.

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Books by Philip Ball

Average rating: 3.92 · 963 ratings · 157 reviews · 32 distinct works

	Critical Mass: How One Thing Leads to Another 3.80 avg rating — 301 ratings — published 2003 — 5 editions	My rating:
	Morbo 4.15 avg rating — 117 ratings — published 2003	My rating:
	Bright Earth: Art and the Invention of Color 4.10 avg rating — 164 ratings — published 1999 — 10 editions	My rating:
	The Devil's Doctor: Paracelsus and the World of Renaissance Magic and Science 3.64 avg rating — 67 ratings — published 2006 — 4 editions	My rating:
	The Music Instinct: How Music Works and Why We Can't Do Without It 3.65 avg rating — 63 ratings — published 2010 — 8 editions	My rating:
	The Self Made Tapestry: Pattern Formation in Nature 4.41 avg rating — 39 ratings — 4 editions	My rating:
	Universe of Stone: A Biography of Chartres Cathedral 3.63 avg rating — 35 ratings — published 2008 — 6 editions	My rating:
	Life's Matrix: A Biography of Water 4.21 avg rating — 34 ratings — 7 editions	My rating:
	Shapes: Nature's Patterns: A Tapestry in Three Parts by Philip Ball, Oxford University Press 4.20 avg rating — 20 ratings — published 2008 — 3 editions	My rating:
	The Elements: A Very Short Introduction 3.68 avg rating — 22 ratings — published 2004 — 3 editions	My rating: