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Chaos: Making a New Science (Unabridged)
 
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Chaos: Making a New Science (Unabridged) [Audio Download]

by James Gleick (Author), Rob Shapiro (Narrator)
4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
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Product details

  • Audio Download
  • Listening Length: 10 hours and 52 minutes
  • Program Type: Audiobook
  • Version: Unabridged
  • Publisher: Random House Audio
  • Audible Release Date: 1 Feb 2011
  • Language: English
  • ASIN: B004LSVQKU
  • Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)

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Product Description

James Gleick explains the theories behind the fascinating new science called chaos. Alongside relativity and quantum mechanics, it is being hailed as the 20th century's third revolution.

©1998 James Gleick; (P)2011 Random House
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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
40 of 41 people found the following review helpful
A delightful read ! 24 Jan 2003
Format:Paperback
This book is called 'Chaos : Making a new science' - so it should hardly
surprise anyone that it deals with the history of Chaos, bringing forth
the elementary concepts of the field along the way.
This book isn't, nor does it pretend to be, a textbook on chaos theory,
so one shouldn't expect too much maths or technical details. On the other
hand, a little maths is unavoidable for discussing even the most basic
notions of chaos theory, so the reader should be prepared for some
(not very demanding) maths.

The style adopted by Gleick is to interweave the personal lives of the
major players involved in the birth of chaos with a description the
concepts, thus giving the book a feel of an interesting story while
introducing a plethora of dazzling ideas at the same time.

The idea of self-similarity, of patterns composed of infinitely-repeating
tiny replicas of themselves, is astounding, to say the least. And to
learn that nature is full of such patterns is revealing indeed. The
implications to science and technology are far-reaching and often
surprising - researchers in Computer Networking have discovered that
network traffic in large networks such as the internet may actually be
following self-similar patterns !!

Personally, i found this to be a delightful read - Gleick's writing is
racy, the ideas involved are mind-bending, and the vivid imagery will
stay with you for a long,long time. I fell in love with fractals at
first sight and can gaze at a collection of beautiful fractals for hours.

In brief, this is a light, breezy account of the history of Chaos, with
a gentle introduction to the basic ideas of Chaos without much technical
details and only a minimum of maths.

One of the best 'Science for everyone' books i've ever read!

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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book left me looking at the world in a radically different perspective. It seemed to suggest that in the late twentieth century we were begining to pin down the extremely subtle mathematics that underpinned almost everything and as a consequence were suddenly gaining an incredible insight into what's actually going on behind the scenes of the universe.
You enter this book knowing chaos as a buzzword occasionally touched upon by the media and gradually realise that it describes the 'forces at work' behind a whole array of things from something as trivial as the Newton-Raphson procedure (who'd have thought a simple piece of A-level maths could give rise to cutting adge research?) to matters as important as the weather, the interepherence in phone lines, the populations in an e-cology, indeed (without meaning to give away the book's climax) it's the very set of theories and idea's that keeps human beings alive!
An absolute must for anyone who's ever wondered why they wonder!
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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Top Book 30 Jan 2003
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
This was the first book I ever read on chaos theory. I am not involved in chaos theory at all, but I was interested in finding out more about it as it was big news at the time.

While at times the concept can be difficult to grasp, the author does go to great pains to make things clear. I think this book is aimed at people with some kind of background in maths, science or engineering ho know nothing about chaos theory.

THe story of how chaos theory came to be is enlightening and a real insight into how such ideas evolve over time.

By the end of the book I was quite able to create and run my own (basic) chaos equations. Quite a feat, really.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Recieve the item in perfect condition
Got the book and I recieve it promptly and the condition of the book is perfect! Will order from the seller again!
Published 7 months ago by Ray
History of Chaos Theory
At first I was put off by the age of this book, it being written in the mid 80's, then I did a few searches and found it still topped the charts in this particular area. Read more
Published 13 months ago by nicholas hargreaves
Excellent Popular Introduction to Chaos Theory
"The science of Chaos cuts across traditional scientific disciplines, tying together unrelated kinds of wildness and irregularity, from the turbulence of weather to the complicated... Read more
Published 14 months ago by M. D. Jenkins
This changed my life, and thereby others too.
I was enjoying a two-year early instalment on my retirement when I read this book in 1990. I'd been in natural foods since the 60's and my ticket out came from selling the... Read more
Published 17 months ago by Gregory Sams
An historical introduction to chaos theory
This book is the first of its kind, which introduces a new branch of science, the chaos or chaos theory from the historical point of view. Read more
Published 22 months ago by Rama Rao
Excellent
You may think this book is now dated (it's over 20 years old, written 1987), but it is still very current. Read more
Published on 13 May 2010 by Mr. J. Horsfall
one of the best books iv read in a while
this is a diffcult subject toget your head round but once you do theres no turnign back... it had definatly changed the way i fundamentaly think. Read more
Published on 24 April 2010 by Mr. David P. Hopkins
There are other places to dig
A good overview and start on the subject but you will be left wanting all the gaps filled. Ian Stewart John Gribben Keith Devlin etc... Read more
Published on 23 Feb 2010 by daphne
Excellent
The procduct came very fast and it was in a perfect state. Everything was according to plan!
Published on 1 Jan 2010 by Bernardo Afonso Batista Marques
The best introduction to the subject.
If you want the book to get you stared with Chaos, then this is the one in my opinion. Gleick is, not surprisingly given his background, a very good writer and conveys the concepts... Read more
Published on 30 Dec 2009 by R. J. Maher
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