false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170623511m/64582.jpg 64582 18 Few writers distinguish themselves by their ability to write about complicated, even obscure topics clearly and engagingly. James Gleick, a former science writer for the <I>New York Times</I>, resides in this exclusive category. In <I>Chaos</I>, he takes on the job of depicting the first years of the study of chaos--the seemingly random patterns that characterize many natural phenomena.<p> This is not a purely technical book. Instead, it focuses as much on the scientists studying chaos as on the chaos itself. In the pages of Gleick's book, the reader meets dozens of extraordinary and eccentric people. For instance, Mitchell Feigenbaum, who constructed and regulated his life by a 26-hour clock and watched his waking hours come in and out of phase with those of his coworkers at Los Alamos National Laboratory.<p> As for chaos itself, Gleick does an outstanding job of explaining the thought processes and investigative techniques that researchers bring to bear on chaos problems. Rather than attempt to explain Julia sets, Lorenz attractors, and the Mandelbrot Set with gigantically complicated equations, <I>Chaos</I> relies on sketches, photographs, and Gleick's wonderful descriptive prose. 62690 1 12 1987 Chaos: Making a New Science total:1207|5:315|4:549|3:268|2:64|1:11| 1207 4714 1799 128 4 2 false false Wed Sep 24 15:46:42 -0700 2008 Wed Sep 24 15:54:38 -0700 2008 more...]]> 0 0 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sun Feb 08 11:43:34 -0800 2009 Sun Feb 08 11:46:27 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sat Sep 26 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Oct 01 15:20:10 -0700 2009 Thu Oct 01 15:43:20 -0700 2009 1 In a nutshell, cha...more...]]> 3 2 false false Wed Sep 09 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 16 14:45:26 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 09 20:54:58 -0700 2009 more...]]> 0 0 false false Thu Oct 23 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Oct 14 07:49:43 -0700 2008 Thu Nov 13 10:38:24 -0800 2008 1 more...]]> 3 0 false false Fri Oct 16 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Aug 21 00:47:00 -0700 2008 Fri Sep 25 08:53:26 -0700 2009 1 more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Jul 20 08:24:31 -0700 2008 Wed Jul 30 19:51:43 -0700 2008 Chaos wasn't quite the book I was expecting: rather than an introductory primer to the science of Chaos, it's much more a history of Chaos' development. This can be good or bad, depending on your familiarity with the subject. Having taken an entire class on fractals, I was somewhat disapp...more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Jun 25 07:52:04 -0700 2008 Thu Jun 26 09:29:51 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat May 30 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat May 17 23:55:39 -0700 2008 Sat Jun 20 16:44:29 -0700 2009 1
Chaos, like many new fields of science, began as a uniquely colloborative and t...more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Thu Aug 23 19:00:52 -0700 2007 Thu Aug 23 19:47:08 -0700 2007
Why did all the problems in my linear algebra and diffy-q classes seem so contrived? Why does nothing on the oscilloscope seem to make sense when an op-amp goes nonlinear? How did I make so many decisions in my life so carefully, and still end up hating the outco...more...]]> 5 0 false false Sun Sep 20 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 19 09:52:43 -0700 2009 Tue Oct 06 09:32:31 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1995 Sun Dec 07 14:39:56 -0800 2008 Sun Dec 07 14:45:57 -0800 2008 2
I wanted to give it to a close ...more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1989 Tue Aug 12 09:07:10 -0700 2008 Tue Aug 12 09:57:32 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Oct 28 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Oct 30 09:15:52 -0700 2009 Fri Oct 30 09:18:10 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Aug 14 16:05:56 -0700 2007 Tue Aug 14 16:11:08 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Jan 08 20:24:08 -0800 2009 Thu Jan 08 20:28:12 -0800 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Sep 21 12:50:13 -0700 2008 Sun Sep 21 12:59:04 -0700 2008 more...]]> 0 0 false false Fri Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sun Feb 10 04:11:11 -0800 2008 Thu Mar 06 08:30:03 -0800 2008 more...]]> 0 0 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Sun Feb 08 04:19:17 -0800 2009 Sun Feb 08 04:19:17 -0800 2009 5 0 false false Tue Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2004 Wed Dec 26 07:49:04 -0800 2007 Thu Feb 14 05:52:03 -0800 2008 The Elegant universe to be: engaging, exciting, revealing... OK, maybe Greene's book is that (I haven't finished it, it's sooo sloooow), but I couldn't put Chaos down. It's almost like reading a mystery.

Honestly, the first chapter sucks yo...more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=64582