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"'A beautifully succinct primer... highly recommended' Time Out"
Product Description
"Introducing Chaos" explains how chaos makes its presence felt in many varieties of event, from the fluctuation of animal populations to the ups and downs of the stock market. It also examines the roots of chaos in modern mathematics and physics, and explores the relationship between chaos and complexity, the new unifying theory which suggests that all complex systems evolve from a few simple rules.This is an accessible introduction to an astonishing and controversial theory that could dramatically change our view of the natural world and our place in a turbulent universe.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
There are a number of introductory books on Chaos Theory available. None of which helped me to get 'into' Chaos Theory. This book, by Ziauddin Sardar is different and probably the most useful introduction for the totally uninitiated.
The main ideas and key players in the development of Chaos theory are covered.
I found the further reading section useful, and purchased two books listed. And reserved a further two books via my local library.
Some words of warning: Learning Chaos theory is a little different from learning other 'scientific' theories because with other theories most people have some familiarity from school or via the media.
Reading even an introductory book on Chaos Theory can be tough going and really is like learning an entirely NEW theory from scratch with new words, concepts(Strange attractors anyone?) and history. Many of the key players in the development of Chaos theory, like Benoit Mandelbrot(Fractals), l had never heard of.
Yes, this is an introductory book with those annoying drawings found in all the 'Introducing' series of books. And yes, the writing is conveniently brief at times, and inconveniently too brief at other times. But, read this book a couple of times and move on to some of the recommended text in the further reading section and you may(like me) find that you finally have an appreciation of what Chaos theory is about.
The main ideas and key players in the development of Chaos theory are covered.
I found the further reading section useful, and purchased two books listed. And reserved a further two books via my local library.
Some words of warning: Learning Chaos theory is a little different from learning other 'scientific' theories because with other theories most people have some familiarity from school or via the media.
Reading even an introductory book on Chaos Theory can be tough going and really is like learning an entirely NEW theory from scratch with new words, concepts(Strange attractors anyone?) and history. Many of the key players in the development of Chaos theory, like Benoit Mandelbrot(Fractals), l had never heard of.
Yes, this is an introductory book with those annoying drawings found in all the 'Introducing' series of books. And yes, the writing is conveniently brief at times, and inconveniently too brief at other times. But, read this book a couple of times and move on to some of the recommended text in the further reading section and you may(like me) find that you finally have an appreciation of what Chaos theory is about.
10 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
"Amateur Biblical scholar Immanuel Velikovsky was dismissed by astronomers as a complete crank". Then in the next frame "Now with chaos theory scientists can escape from ignorance of their ignorance"
"The cultural equivalent of attractors would be chiefs, tribes, states and what gives us identity" (accompanied by a picture of the Pope and a nice little butterfly)
"Architect Bruce Goff was amongst the first to use strange attractors to organise a force-field of movement inside some of his houses"
I love this one -"Zaha Hadid used fractal geometry to create a building that used the language of planes to enfold difference in continuity". Unfortunately this "conception was never realised" being too (wait for it) "POSTMODERN"
The most generous summing up I could give this book would be "boldly meaningless"; "wrong" would however probably be more accurate.
If you would like to read something of chaos theory without paradigm shifts, postmodernism and pictures of skinny women with cauliflowers growing out of their heads then please, please, please buy another book.
"Deep Simplicity" by John Gribbin is quite a good one.
Some of the "Introducing" series are very good. This one's a stinker.
"The cultural equivalent of attractors would be chiefs, tribes, states and what gives us identity" (accompanied by a picture of the Pope and a nice little butterfly)
"Architect Bruce Goff was amongst the first to use strange attractors to organise a force-field of movement inside some of his houses"
I love this one -"Zaha Hadid used fractal geometry to create a building that used the language of planes to enfold difference in continuity". Unfortunately this "conception was never realised" being too (wait for it) "POSTMODERN"
The most generous summing up I could give this book would be "boldly meaningless"; "wrong" would however probably be more accurate.
If you would like to read something of chaos theory without paradigm shifts, postmodernism and pictures of skinny women with cauliflowers growing out of their heads then please, please, please buy another book.
"Deep Simplicity" by John Gribbin is quite a good one.
Some of the "Introducing" series are very good. This one's a stinker.
10 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I seriously wanted to find out more about chaos theory and this book gave no assistance. Every page has seriously silly 'cartoons' which fail utterly to help. What little text there is has not been written by anyone who has the remotest idea of how to get ideas across. I have now binned it; money wasted!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Another excellent title in the series
The mixture of collage with black and white print make for striking images. The text is clear and informative, providing a good introduction to a counter-intuative but fascinating... Read more
Published on 5 Sep 2009 by mystery shopper
A good introduction to chaos
My personal exploration of the ideas of improvement and change have led along a path in which quantum physics, uncertainty, chaos and complexity have almost mysteriously become... Read more
Published on 14 Feb 2009 by Steven Unwin
chaotic writing
I completely agree with the first reviewer. Far too much space taken up with silly pictures and no background to the idea presented is given - far too much prior physics knowledge... Read more
Published on 11 Jun 2007 by M. Hallam
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