How do scientists look at chance, or randomness, and chaos in physical systems? In answering this question for a general audience, Ruelle writes in...
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Jan 14, 2012
Bria
rated it: 
It took me probably three-quarters of this book to be able to even begin to form any sort of opinion on it, and I'm still not entirely sure, although I think it comes out on the side of "enjoyable, if not entirely fruitful". It does sort of seem like Ruelle just decided one day to write it, and only gradually sort of got into it and started to get more playful as it went on. This may not be quite right, but the term that comes to mind is "the poor man's Douglas Hofstadter".
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Apr 28, 2011
Chris
rated it:
This was a bit of an odd read. It started out well, very comprehensible and quite interesting, addressing the topic at hand effectively. It certainly sparked my already present interest in the topic of (mathematical) chaos. However as the book went on, it began to wander quite a bit, and near the end it almost felt like the author's mind wasn't quite there. There is a point where the author goes off on a tangent about how the reader clearly no longer wants responsibility for the creation of the
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Oct 23, 2011
Alex
rated it: 
This thin book has a lot of interesting ideas in it but if you want a book about chaos this one is probably not the best one to start with.
While the concept of chaos appears multiple times the book reads more as a sequence of loosely connected articles rather than a book. The topics covered include quantum mechanics, statistical mechanics, probability theory, chaos theory and even information theory, a bit too much at the same time i believe.
It's easy to pick up and read though as More...
While the concept of chaos appears multiple times the book reads more as a sequence of loosely connected articles rather than a book. The topics covered include quantum mechanics, statistical mechanics, probability theory, chaos theory and even information theory, a bit too much at the same time i believe.
It's easy to pick up and read though as More...
Jul 04, 2009
DJ
rated it: 
This book goes down like a high school cafeteria salad bar - plenty of variety but overwhelmingly mediocre.
It seems as though Ruelle simply sat down one Saturday and thought, "Hey, I think I'll write a book" and proceeded to regurgitate his stream of consciousness onto paper for the next several hours. Ruelle gives a somewhat shallow introduction to a huge variety of interesting topics but jumps from one to the next so fast that nothing sticks. "Chance and Chaos" More...
It seems as though Ruelle simply sat down one Saturday and thought, "Hey, I think I'll write a book" and proceeded to regurgitate his stream of consciousness onto paper for the next several hours. Ruelle gives a somewhat shallow introduction to a huge variety of interesting topics but jumps from one to the next so fast that nothing sticks. "Chance and Chaos" More...
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