Deep Simplicity: Bringing Order to Chaos and Complexity

by John Gribbin

Over the past two decades, no field of scientific inquiry has had a more striking impact across a wide array of disciplines–from biology to physics, computing to meteorology–than that known as chaos and complexity, the study of complex systems. Now astrophysicist John Gribbin draws on his expertise to explore, in prose that communicates not only the wonder but the substance of cutting-edge science, the principles behind chaos and complexity. He reveals the remarkable ways these two revolutionary theories have been applied over the last twenty years to explain all sorts of phenomena–from weather patterns to mass extinctions.

Grounding these paradigm-shifting ideas in their historical context, Gribbin also traces their development from Newton to Darwin to Lorenz, Prigogine, and Lovelock, demonstrating how–far from overturning all that has gone before–chaos and complexity are the triumphant extensions of simple scientific laws. Ultimately, Gribbin illustrates how chaos and complexity permeate the universe on every scale, governing the evolution of life and galaxies alike.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Physics, Philosophy, Mathematics, Business, Psychology

279 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

John R. Gribbin is a British science writer, an astrophysicist, and a visiting fellow in astronomy at the University of Sussex. His writings include quantum physics, human evolution, climate change, global warming, the origins of the universe, and biographies of famous scientists. He also writes science fiction.

Reviews

[van1998]

Edge of chaos
เส้นกั้นตรงกลางที่ระบบจะมีระเบียบพอที่จะไม่พัง และมีความวุ่นวายพอจะเปลี่ยนแปลง ถ้ามีระเบียบมากเกินไประบบจะหยุดนิ่งเหมือนน้ำแข็ง ถ้ามีความวุ่นวายมากเกินไประบบจะกระจายแตกสลาย