Frontiers of Complexity: The Search for Order in a Chaotic World
Average customer rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • Frontiers of Complexity
  • Response to other reviews
  • Excellent Primer on Complexity
  • Good beginning, iffy second half.
  • An introduction to complexity for the intelligent reader
Frontiers of Complexity: The Search for Order in a Chaotic World
Roger Highfield
Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0449910814
Release Date: 1996-08-27

Amazon.com

Accessible yet rigorous, this book goes far beyond most popularizations of "chaos" theory and presents the science of complexity, its historical origins, and current applications to cosmology, particle physics, ecology, evolution, and neurobiology. The emphasis on scientific computation and visualization as the microscope and lab bench of this new science is particularly welcome. Very Highly Recommended.

Book Description

"SCIENCE JOURNALISM AT ITS BEST. . . An impeccably researched, amazingly up-to-date, crisply written and well-illustrated survey."
--Nature
At the cutting edge of the sciences, a dynamic new concept is emerging: complexity. In this groundbreaking new book, Peter Coveney and Roger Highfield explore how complexity in mathematics, physics, biology, chemistry, and even the social sciences is transforming not only the way we think about the universe, but also the very assumptions that underlie conventional science.
Complexity is a watchword for a new way of thinking about the behavior of interacting units, whether they are atoms, ants in a colony, or neurons firing in a human brain. The rise of the electronic computer provided both the key and the catalyst to our exploration of complexity.
A new generation of computers that runs on light and exploits the bizarre properties of quantum mechanics promises to deepen our understanding still further. The advances we have already witnessed are spectacular. The authors take us inside laboratories where scientists are evolving the genetic molecules that enabled life to emerge on earth and generating universes teeming with virtual creatures in cyber-space. We witness the utterly realistic behavior of a school of virtual fish--computer-generated replicas that have been trained to swim gracefully, hunt for food, and scatter at the approach of a leopard shark.
Compelling in its clarity, far-reaching in its implications, vibrant with the excitement of new discovery, Frontiers of Complexity is an arresting account of how far science has come in the past fifty years and an essential guide to the rapidly approaching future.
"[A] MARVELOUS AND COMPREHENSIVE WORK . . . Virtually any scientist or interested lay reader will find this book engrossing, edifying and inspiring."
--Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars Frontiers of Complexity.......2003-11-08

Peter Coveney and Roger Highfield, coauthors of The Arrow of Time: A voyage through science to solve time's greatest mystery, performed comprehensive work explaining the evolution of the science of complexity.

The authors examined the concept of complexity in such scientific disciplines as mathematics, biology, chemistry and physics.

The authors traced and illustrated the evolution (from reductionism) of complexity in the works of such scientists as:

Charles Babbage - English mathematician, a celebrated icon in the prehistory of computing. Invented Difference Engine No. 1. The Charles Babbage Institute is an historical archive and research center of the University of Minnesota.
George Boole - Better known for the algebras named after him, and as one of the pioneers of modern logic.
Kurt Godel - First to demonstrate that certain mathematical statements can neither be proved or disproved.
Richard Feynmann - Nobel laureate, introduced "universal quantum simulator".
Stuart Kauffman - Author of At Home in the Universe: The search for the Las of Self-Organization and Complexity.

The authors also emphasized the beginnings and advances in computing through the pioneering works of:

John von Neumann - Invented a self-reproducing automation to show how machine could perform the most basic function of life - reproduction. He is known as the "father of artificial life."
Allan Turing - His work on computers and their relationship with brains made him the "Father of Artificial Intelligence."
John Hopfield - Showed that there is a mathematical mapping of the Sherrington-Kirkpatrick spin-glass model onto a simple type of fully connected neural network model called Hopfield network.

What I got from this book:

Nothing interests me more than artificial intelligence in my brief exposure to the science of complexity. This book dealt with neural networks so much, I just loved it. On the other hand, its too little - just enough to keep me craving for more!

The foreword by Baruch Blumberg, Nobel laureate, left me with a robust and distinct message that I would like to share with you, and I quote: "Each time an experiment is performed to test a hypothesis, more questions are revealed; there is no limit to the mysteries of nature and to our desire to understand them. The study of complexity offers an opportunity to stand back and consider the global interactions of fundamental units - atoms, elementary particles, genes - to create a synthesis that crosses the borders of scientific disciplines, to see a grand vision of nature.

5 out of 5 stars Response to other reviews.......2002-04-24

Alright, seeing "this book should be on the shelf next to Roger Penrose's 'The Emperor's New Mind' and James Gleick's 'Chaos'", and another review saying that the book denies Godel's Theorom, confused me for a while. Then I realized that the latter refered to nueral nets. Assuming that the nets referred to are analog, there is no contradiction. Godel's Theorom proved the incompleteness of formal language systems, a.k.a. digital systems, which constitute a smaller information set than analog systems. Mathematically, analog systems do not meet the neccessary conditions for Godel's Proof to apply. However, the claim to 'completeness', if it be made, is ungrounded. Analog systems simply represent a higher information dimension, not an infinite information dimension.

5 out of 5 stars Excellent Primer on Complexity.......2001-04-26

This book will give you some genuine insight into the emerging (no pun intended) field of Complexity. It presents historical and current research in a way that allows both the researcher and informed layman to get a good grasp on the concepts presented. Both provocative and educational its only flaw is a perhaps too doctrinaire belief that Complexity is the "next step" in science instead of another branch. If you want a good in-depth view of the current state of Chaos and Complexity theories without having to learn all the math this book will give you what you need. It belongs on the shelf next ot Roger Penrose' "The Emperors New Mind" and Gleick's, "Chaos".

3 out of 5 stars Good beginning, iffy second half........2001-01-21

This book starts off well enough, with a fascinating chapter on the limits of mathematics, focusing on Godel's refutation of formalism (the idea that the whole of mathematics can be derived from a set of logical statements), followed by a brief history of computers and the computation. But once the authors begin their explanation of complexity, they come off as smug and overzealous about their field. They seem to take every opportunity to belittle other fields of science, and try to convince us that complexity will provide the ultimate explanaion of every facet of the universe, from biology to physics to chemistry to social sciences.

This may sound like an exaggeration, but it really isn't: at the beginning of their chapter on complexity in chemical reactions, they dismiss the idea that chemistry (and by extension, biochemistry) can be explanied by quantum physics because the calculations it requires are too complicated. I understand that it is difficult to use quantum physics, and that its effects are only significant on the atomic level, but that does not mean that quantum effects do not exist! The chapter on chemistry marks the end of any reasonable explanation of complexity, and by end of the book complexity is almost completely forgotten, as the writing gushes on about neural networks and aritficial life.

It is these later chapters on life and aritificial life that are the most poorly written. The authors commonly say things like "It is becoming clear that obstacles to creating aritfical consciousness may not be as formidable as we had thought", yet provide little proof of this. They basically claim that neural networks are only a few innovations away from becoming fully funcitoning human brains, but they provide a one-sided explanation of their usefulness and fail to mention their failings, especially in cognitive science (which is the study of the brain, of all things). They strongly hint that current ALife programs are creating new life, when they are pretty must just clever programs that manipulate computer memory according to a set of rules. They just don't seem to realize that simulating certain aspects of life with computers and life itself are very different things! We are not even certain that neurons are the basic building block of the brain, yet they are claiming that we now know enough about the brain to create a computerized one in no time. Their argument is very smug and one-sided: the only time they ever mention a criticism to current ALife and AI practices is when they present Roger Penrose's very reasonable hypothesis about how computers cannot simulate intelligence in large part due to their reliance on mathematical logic, which, as Godel proved, can sometimes break down. Yet they quickly dismiss this view, seeming to think that Godel's theorems are nothing more than irrelevant parlor tricks. Their claim that a neural network can be taught to do anything, and therfore can overcome Godel's theorems, is especially poor: we could never teach a human brain to fly, for example, because it (and the body it is in) are not equipped to do this. So why do they think that our arcane artificial neural networks are equipped to create consciousness?

Despite this heavy criticism, however, this book is still quite interesting if you are new to complexity, chaos, and artificial life. The author's overexcitement about their field seems to be common when new branches of science emerge, like when AI was first getting off the ground. If you read this book, just realize that its bold claims may be grounded in false hope.

5 out of 5 stars An introduction to complexity for the intelligent reader.......2000-09-17

Complexity is a new field that touches on almost every one of the sciences, and delivering a solid overview without being superficial is an exceedingingly difficult task; authors Coveny and Highfield have created a book that manages just that. They cover the physical, computational, biological and cognitive sciences, in each case with enough detail to really convey the essence of the field while still remaining very readable to the non-specialist reader. (There's a very detailed- and entertaining- annotated bibliography for those looking for more detail.)

While there are currently a number of very good non-technical introductions to complexity theory by such skilled authors as John Casti, Mitchell Feigenbaum and others, this particular volume may well be the best of an excellent lot. Highly recommended to anyone looking for a a non-rigorous, but non-trivial, introduction to the field.
Weak Links: Stabilizers of Complex Systems from Proteins to Social Networks (The Frontiers Collection)
Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
  • Primer on real-life networks with a theme
  • Weak Links Stabilize Complex Systems
Weak Links: Stabilizers of Complex Systems from Proteins to Social Networks (The Frontiers Collection)
Csermely P.
Manufacturer: Springer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 3540311513

Book Description

Why do women stabilize our societies? Why can we enjoy and understand Shakespeare? Why are fruitflies uniform? Why do omnivorous eating habits aid our survival? Why is Mona Lisa’s smile beautiful? – Is there any answer to these questions? This book shows that the statement: "weak links stabilize complex systems" holds the answers to all of the surprising questions above. The author (recipient of several distinguished science communication prizes) uses weak (low affinity, low probability) interactions as a thread to introduce a vast variety of networks from proteins to ecosystems. Many people, from Nobel Laureates to high-school students have helped to make the book understandable to all interested readers. This unique book and the ideas it develops will have a significant impact on many, seemingly diverse, fields of study.

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars Primer on real-life networks with a theme .......2007-02-02

If you ever needed another good reason to value your grandmother even more, you'll find the answer in "Weak links".

Structurally, his book starts with an exposition on network theory and
terminology, then the application and discussion of these concepts to
real-life complex systems on many scales and applied to many domains (physical, natural, technological, social). His main point is, as the reviewer noted above, that 'weak' links (weak: additional/removal does not statistically affect the average of some metric) stabilize systems.

The book has thorough footnotes, one can delve as deep as one would like
into the professional papers. In addition, Csermely is an honest scholar - he shows his hands when there is mere speculation (you have to see the book's unique pictograms to appreciate the effects)

After pouring through several alternatives, I have adopted this book as a
textbook for my Science of Networks class (I'm CS fac at an elite US liberal arts school), and I recommend it to anyone without hesitation for a readable, and learned exposition.

I only have two or three caveats from a specialist's point of view: The
phenomenological discovery of power laws in complex systems is not unusual
and may not be evidence of any SF properties. Scale-free is an abused
term, and I wish the controversy about it were explained a bit more. Also, from a modelling point of view, I wish Doyle and Carlson's work on HOT systems were discussed in more depth.

But these are minor points, relatively speaking. This is a gem of a book:
erudite, humane, funny, accessible and thoroughly fascinating. On every
page, there are delights that lead down new intellectual paths.

Csermely did a great service to pedagogy and to this budding science with
this magisterial survey. Outstanding in its ease of access for intelligent
undergraduates and commendable for intellectual honesty - I wish more
books (textbooks and otherwise) were written this way.

5 out of 5 stars Weak Links Stabilize Complex Systems.......2006-05-13

It is an intriguing concept.

Weak links, invisible in many networks, are critical to its stability. In this book, Peter Csermely shows that all networks, from the universe to molecules are governed by the same principles. Regardless of the system -- atoms, cells, companies, web pages or countries -- surprisingly, the weak links stabilize each.

Csermely, a professor at Semmelweis University in Budapest, a former Fogarty Fellow at Harvard University, is a molecular chaperones specialist. In 2003, he became fascinated by the concept of affinity -- a network's stabilizing components of must have weak links to the other components. These weak links act as hubs. Attack the hubs; disrupt the network.

Csermely demonstrates the concept hold true in field after field. The professor begins his study with a discussion of the Granovetter study of a job search and then proceeds to describe network dynamics. By chapter four, the reader is ready to be introduced to the concept of weak links as universal stabilizers. Then, the professor conducts a network tour ranging from macromolecules to the planet earth. Finally he ends with a discussion of weak links, stability landscapes and game theory.

Surprisingly, his book is understandable, even to non-academics. It is loaded with gems that can be applied to the reader's networks and relationships.

This is not a book I would have ever picked up on my own. Thankfully, Professor Csermely sent me an advanced copy. It is a unique book that takes a thorough look at an intriguing concept.
Harnessing Complexity: Organizational Implications of a Scientific Frontier
Average customer rating: 3 out of 5 stars
  • too generic and hard to put it into practical use
  • Harnessing complexity... without the harness
  • A beginner's view
  • A beginner's view
  • Full of Fluff
Harnessing Complexity: Organizational Implications of a Scientific Frontier
Robert Axelrod , and Michael D Cohen
Manufacturer: Amazon Remainders Account
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: B000F6ZBDU

Book Description

A state-of-the-art guide to the new field of complexity-the tool leaders use to understand how people and organizations adapt in a world of rapid change.

Harnessing Complexity will be indispensable to anyone who wants to better comprehend how people and organizations can adapt effectively in the information age. This book is a step-by-step guide to understanding the processes of variation, interaction, and selection that are at work in all organizations. The authors show how to use their own paradigm of "bottom up" management, the Complex Adaptive System-whether in science, public policy, or private commerce. This simple model of how people work together will change forever how we think about getting things done in a group.

Download Description

Robert Axelrod is one of the world's leading experts on game theory and cooperation. Together with Michael Cohen he now reveals what makes a complex group of individuals into a productive team. Harnessing Complexity will be indispensable to anyone who wants better ways of thinking about how people and organizations can adapt effectively in the information age. The authors' paradigm of "bottom up" management -- the Complex Adaptive System -- is fast becoming a tenet of twenty-first-century science and management.

Axelrod and Cohen use many fascinating real-world examples to illustrate their model of complexity, but their book is more than a manual for success in Silicon Valley. Managers in any business, not-for-profit organization, or the public sector, can go step by step through the processes of variation, interaction, and selection that are at the heart of every Complex Adaptive System -- whether it is the ecology of a rain forest, an innovative banking system in the villages of Bangladesh, or the frenetic but efficient world of Wall Street trading. Their simple, paradigm-shifting model of how people work together will change forever how we think about getting things done in a group.

Customer Reviews:

2 out of 5 stars too generic and hard to put it into practical use.......2003-07-10

Overall, I think the book is too generic, only touching the surface of complexity/organizational theory. Hard for me to get any good action steps/tips for my practical job.

The author pointed out three points of "Complex Adaptive System"
- variation
- interaction
- selection

It looks like something new. However, the author only talks on the very surface level of these three concepts. He explained why variation/interaction/selection is good to corporate organization, just as it is good for living beings. Yet, you can't find specific action steps to work on. In addition, if we do not go into deeper level (or new meaning), these three concepts will be just like old concepts with new names (i.e. diversity/teamwork/performance evaluation).

Net, I find this book is hard for practical use, and only recommend it to people who are extremely interested in complexity theory.

2 out of 5 stars Harnessing complexity... without the harness.......2003-01-28

In the first paragraph of the preface of this book, Axelrod and Cohen ask, "In a world where many players are all adapting to each other and where the emergring future is extremely hard to predict, what actions should we take?" As a "reader from Boston" recommended, providing recommendations for practical application (7 Habits of Complexity?) would have helped answer this question.

Unfortunately, even the authors' anectodal examples provide little insight into HOW to "harness" complexity. While this book is primarily aimed at "designers and policy makers," it may actually be most useful to consultants looking to add new buzzwords to their bs lexicon.

I would recommend Briggs and Peats's "Seven Life Lessons of Chaos" for those who are looking for a more nuts-and-bolts approach to these issues.

3 out of 5 stars A beginner's view.......2002-12-01

As my first venture into the world of complexity and complex adaptive systems this was an interesting book. A lot of what I anecdotally thought about complexity was reinforced through the authors' own anecdotal examples. The examples were from a wide variety of situations, but were explained in a way to be understood by someone without a background in those various areas. However, I think the title was somewhat misleading. It seemed that a lot of the value of the book depended on having at least the initial, possibly intuitive, understanding of the interrelatedness of events, structure, and environment.

The diversity of the areas affected by complexity would seem to make it difficult to formulate a simple step by step approach for using complexity. However, it would have been helpful if the authors spent some time on what initial or environmental conditions might have been changed in their examples and how those changes would have affected the end system.

4 out of 5 stars A beginner's view.......2002-12-01

As my first venture into the world of complexity and complex adaptive systems this was an interesting book. A lot of what I anecdotally thought about complexity was reinforced through the authors' own anecdotal examples. The examples were from a wide variety of situations, but were explained in a way to be understood by someone without a background in those various areas. However, I think the title was somewhat misleading. It seemed that a lot of the value of the book depended on having at least the initial, possibly intuitive, understanding of the interrelatedness of events, structure, and environment.

The diversity of the areas affected by complexity would seem to make it difficult to formulate a simple step by step approach for using complexity. However, it would have been helpful if the authors spent some time on what initial or environmental conditions might have been changed in their examples and how those changes would have affected the end system.

1 out of 5 stars Full of Fluff.......2001-02-22

How anyone can rate this book at 5 stars is beyond me. This book is not only one of the weaker contributions to the literature on complexity in the past two years, it fails to live up to the title. No one who reads this book will know how to take the first step toward "harnessing complexity." At best, they will have the broadly useful idea that it's good to experiment with new ideas (exploration) every now and then, and then pick the ideas that work (exploitation). That hardly seems like a great breakthrough. Organizational Implications of a Scientific Frontier?! Get real.
Critical Political Economy: Complexity, Rationality, and the Logic of Post-Orthodox Pluralism (Routledge Frontiers of Political Economy)
Average customer rating: Not rated
    Critical Political Economy: Complexity, Rationality, and the Logic of Post-Orthodox Pluralism (Routledge Frontiers of Political Economy)
    Christian Arnsperger
    Manufacturer: Routledge
    ProductGroup: Book
    Binding: Hardcover

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    ASIN: 0415446309

    Book Description

    This bold and ambitious book attempts to diagnose and remedy what is wrong with economics, so that it can become an emancipatory form of knowledge. Arnsperger's emphasis falls on the idea that economics neglects the possibility that individuals, people to be precise, ask not only Â`what is in it for themÂ', within a given socio-economic context, but also care about the context itself. The result is a book which will be of interest to serious economists and philosophers of social science everywhere.

    Evolution, Order and Complexity (Routledge Frontiers of Political Economy, 2)
    Average customer rating: Not rated
      Evolution, Order and Complexity (Routledge Frontiers of Political Economy, 2)
      Kennet Boulding
      Manufacturer: Routledge
      ProductGroup: Book
      Binding: Hardcover

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      ASIN: 0415137284

      Book Description

      b /b b i Evolution, Order and Complexity /i /b represents the cutting edge of current thinking which challenges the natural/social dichotomy thesis by showing how the application of ideas which derive from biology can be applied and offer insight into the social realm. The volume introduces general system theory to the methodological debate on the relationship between social and natural sciences and presents a multidisciplinary approach. All of the contributors demonstrate that it is possible to explore the relationship and unity of the social and natural worlds without portraying one as a crude reduction of the other.

      Download Description

      This volume of essays explores the relationship between the natural and social worlds using general system theory.
      Frontiers of Complexity
      Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
      • Frontiers of Complexity
      Frontiers of Complexity
      Peter Coveney , and Roger Highfield
      Manufacturer: Faber and Faber
      ProductGroup: Book
      Binding: Hardcover

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      ASIN: 0571169910
      Release Date: 1996-02-04

      Customer Reviews:

      5 out of 5 stars Frontiers of Complexity.......2006-06-02

      In this groundbreaking book, Peter Coveney and Roger Highfield, co-authors of the highly praised The Arrow of Time, explore how complexity is transforming not only the way we think about the universe, but also the very assumptions that underlie conventional science.

      Coveny and Highfield define complexity as a new way of thinking about the behavior of interacting units, be they atoms, ants in a colony, neurons firing in a human brain, or people in a society. Complexity reaches far beyond the concept of chaos and represents a profound shift away from the reductive principle that has guided science for centuries.

      As Coveney and Highfield brilliantly illustrate, the rise of the electronic computer provided both the key and the catalyst to our exploration of complexity. With the promise of a new generation of computers that runs on light, manipulates fuzzy logic and exploits the bizarre properties of quantum mechanics, the authors reveal how we are set to witness a huge expansion in the efforts to unravel the mysteries of complexity.

      Frontiers of Complexity takes us inside the laboratory where scientists are evolving the genetic molecules that enables life to emerge on Earth, and reveals universes in cyberspace where organisms compete for resources as they reproduce, mutate and evolve. We witness the utterly realistic behaviour of a school of virtual fish, and encounter scientist who have accurately modelled the one million neurons that make up the brain of a bee.

      Compelling in its clarity, vast in its scope and vibrant with the excitement of new discovery, Frontiers of Complexity is an arresting account of how far science has come in the past fifty years, and an essential guide to the science of the future.
      --- from book's Prologue
      Managing Complexity And Change in SMEs: Frontiers in European Research
      Average customer rating: Not rated
        Managing Complexity And Change in SMEs: Frontiers in European Research

        Manufacturer: Edward Elgar Publishing
        ProductGroup: Book
        Binding: Hardcover

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        ASIN: 1845429087

        Book Description

        The process of founding new enterprises and making them grow and prosper is a far more convoluted undertaking than it was just a few decades ago. This book explores the complexity faced by today's entrepreneurs. Institutional boundaries, evolutionary perspectives and the intricacies of management are the central themes in this study of entrepreneurs and SMEs in a world marked by major transitions.

        While mainstream research enhances our understanding of the dynamics of the entrepreneurial process, this book progresses the research yet further. It examines another fundamental role of research in entrepreneurship: our understanding of future organizational and managerial forms evolving from the globalization process. Issues addressed include:

        * growth patterns among enterprises initiated by science-and-technology-based entrepreneurs * the actions and motives driving radical entrepreneurs * the role of experience versus formal education in entrepreneurship * the role of endogenous growth processes * managerial complexity in new knowledge-based enterprises * the role of collaboration for innovation in new business ventures.

        The contributors aim to further encourage dialogue and reflections triggered by the growing emphasis on entrepreneurship in policy agendas and business communities all over Europe. As such, this book will prove stimulating reading for researchers, students, academics, consultants and advisers involved in entrepreneurship, business and management.
        Patterns in the Sand: Computers, Complexity, and Everyday Life (Frontiers of Science (Perseus Books))
        Average customer rating: 1 out of 5 stars
        • Rather frustrating book, needs to go deeper
        Patterns in the Sand: Computers, Complexity, and Everyday Life (Frontiers of Science (Perseus Books))
        Terry R. J. Bossomaier , David Green , and Terry Bossomaier
        Manufacturer: Perseus Books Group
        ProductGroup: Book
        Binding: Hardcover

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        Chaos & SystemsChaos & Systems | Mathematics | Professional Science | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books
        ASIN: 0738200158

        Book Description

        In this fresh look at the science of complexity, a biologist and a computer scientist discuss this profound new field of knowledge, using examples from starfish to traveling salesmen, from car crashes to the workings of the brain.

        Customer Reviews:

        1 out of 5 stars Rather frustrating book, needs to go deeper.......2005-06-29

        What a frustrating book - it never seems to get to the point!

        I can't understand why the authors feel it's okay to write at such a high level about chaos and complexity, without delving into their subject in any depth. For example, they open with the contribution of Alan Turing and his Turing machine but they don't give enough detail for you to appreciate why this is important. Sadly this happens again and again in this book. I was often left thinking, "What is the significance of this?" as they skipped from one idea to the next in a disjointed manner. They tend to introduce an idea or individual contributor, mention too briefly what they did and then move on.

        It's a bit like reading lots of road signs on the freeway at speed: you can't really claim you've visited those places or know what they're about.

        The title of the book suggests a much stronger link to computing than is actually achieved. They use a few computing terms (which they don't define) and despite using the term 'algorithm' they don't actually explain many of these.

        I felt the authors weren't in touch with their audience. It's quite possible to write a fascinating book that deals with a technical subject despite your audience not have a technical background (e.g. try "Fermat's Last Theorem" by Simon Singh). By contrast, "Patterns in the Sand" avoids depth in its explanations, almost as if to 'spare' its readers, which instead produces a sense of annoyance.

        I'm sure their purpose was to introduce the emerging field of chaos and complexity, but in the end I was unconvinced. I will look elsewhere to get more depth and a better read - I was glad to finish this book so I could move onto something else!

        The graphics in the book are rather sparse and of poor quality.

        I give this book one star because it did remind me about StarLogo, a tool for playing with parallel worlds, and also FRACTINT, a fractal generator. Both are available on the internet.
        The complexity of Kipling's imperialist politics.(Book Review): An article from: English Literature in Transition 1880-1920
        Average customer rating: Not rated
          The complexity of Kipling's imperialist politics.(Book Review): An article from: English Literature in Transition 1880-1920
          Patrick Brantlinger
          Manufacturer: ELT Press
          ProductGroup: Book
          Binding: Digital

          GeneralGeneral | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books | Classics | Comic | Contemporary | Literary
          GeneralGeneral | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | e-Docs | Formats | Books
          ASIN: B0007URK06
          Release Date: 2005-07-13

          Book Description

          This digital document is an article from English Literature in Transition 1880-1920, published by ELT Press on March 22, 2005. The length of the article is 1609 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

          Citation Details
          Title: The complexity of Kipling's imperialist politics.(Book Review)
          Author: Patrick Brantlinger
          Publication: English Literature in Transition 1880-1920 (Refereed)
          Date: March 22, 2005
          Publisher: ELT Press
          Volume: 48 Issue: 2 Page: 88(4)

          Article Type: Book Review

          Distributed by Thomson Gale
          Complexities and challenges in the long term care policy frontier: Michigan's assisted living facilities
          Average customer rating: Not rated
            Complexities and challenges in the long term care policy frontier: Michigan's assisted living facilities
            Maureen A Mickus
            Manufacturer: Institute for Public Policy & Social Research, Michigan State University
            ProductGroup: Book
            Binding: Unknown Binding
            ASIN: B0006SA4QQ

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