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The Guardian
Independent on Sunday
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
48 of 53 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Philip Ball's Masterpiece,
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This review is from: Critical Mass: How One Thing Leads to Another (Paperback)
Yes, without a doubt, Philip Ball's greatest book to date. He is probably better known among scientists than laypersons as he was for a long time editor at Nature one of the worlds top multi-disciplinary science journals. He has a degree in chemistry and a doctorate in physics but he seems to know a great deal more, when he mentions literature he sounds like an english professor but enough about the man - what about his book?The joy of Ball's erudition is that he can speak intelligently on any subject which must have been useful at Nature and is essential when he tackles popular science books such as this. His books are not for the lazy but curious person, to get joy out of Ball's books you must be prepared to think hard, concentrate a little and then the rewards will come. In this book, Ball discusses the startling results that physicists have had when applying physics to social phenomena - war, business, traffic. People are particles is a common theme. Obviously classical physics or even quantum phenomena are not going to predict a single persons actions, but what about a million? As it turns out there are parallels which we run in to again and again. One fascinating analogy - and it is more than just analogy really, thats the whole point - is how traffic slowing to a jam is much like water freezing. Phase changes and critical points come up repeatedly. Reading this book was absolutely fascinating. I looked forward to my bus rides to work so I'd have another chance to read some more. The diagrams ease comprehension and the writing is lucid and entertaining throughout. There is even some dry humour which I found refreshing. I'm not sure I can praise this book highly enough, I've read popular science, and many academic titles and this is probably the one I've enjoyed most - it is one of those books that will make you look at everything differently. Five stars without a doubt. A stimulating, exciting, fascinating read. 1st rate popular science, 1st rate writing.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Collective Ebullition,
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This review is from: Critical Mass: How One Thing Leads to Another (Paperback)
Why do we decide individually or so we think but end up acting collectively? This is the central theme explored in this marvelous book that runs the gamut from traffic systems to network topology to urban planning. I love the multi-dimensionality this book displays which enriches the mind and gets one thinking about old problems in new ways. Surely in such a troublesome world such as ours with 7 billion-ish people and problems ad infinitum, solving problems must be one of the most valuable skills that can be taught. This is (sort of) what "Critical Mass" delivers.
There are a few fault lines where Ball employs novelistic stunts. I'll give two. First is his indiscriminate use of the so called "power law" discovered in many studies to describe collective behaviour. This law turns out to be nothing but an inverse relationship between two variables but "power" and "law" together sound sexier and so much more authoritative. Pah! The second is where he's talking about Dostoyevsky's Raskolnikov (Crime and Punishment) and Ball casually refers to D as a criminal to prove a point. Well, yes kind of, but Dostoyevsky was condemmed for associating with radicals who wanted to free serfs/slaves. It wasn't like he was a murderer. Rant over. Read the book.
16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
People as particles,
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This review is from: Critical Mass: How One Thing Leads to Another (Hardcover)
I found this book incredibly thought provoking. It would have been much quicker to read in fact if I hadn't been constantly writing down ideas that occured to me as I delved into its chapters.
It covers an enormous amount of ground and is, mostly, very readable despite sometimes covering a whirlwind of several hundred years of theory. The main gist of the book is applying physics theories to human social interaction (be it in crowds, queues, crime, traffic, war, politics, markets, towns, businesses etc). It highlights how certain signature patterns seem to turn up time and time again in all these disparate theatres of human life. It covers the familiar "bell curves" of probability theory but it was most interesting (to me) when discussing phase changes - for example how a liquid line of traffic suddenly morphs into a solid because one car (particle) brakes too fast and the knock on effects this has. I'd strongly recommend this book as I think it's given me a better understanding of how certain types of change happen. Now I know why you wait ages for a bus and then three turn up at once.
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