Sync
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Product Description
Product Description
'SYNC' IS A STORY OF A DAZZLING KIND OF ORDER IN THE UNIVERSE, THE HARMONY THAT COMES FROM CYCLES IN SYNC. THE TENDENCY TO SYCHRONIZE IS ONE OF THE MOST FAR- REACHING DRIVES IN ALL OF NATURE. IT EXTENDS FROM PEOPLE TO PLANETS, FROM ANIMALS TO ATOMS. IN 'SYNC' PROFESSOR STEVEN STROGATZ CONSIDERS A RANGE OF APPLICATIONS - HUMAN SLEEP AND CIRCADIAN RHYTHMS, MENSTRUAL SYNCHRONY, INSECT OUTBREAKS, SUPERCONDUCTORS, LASERS, SECRET CODES, HEART ARRHYTHMIAS AND FADS - CONNECTING ALL TRHOUGH AN EXPLORATION OF THE SAME MATHEMATICAL THEME: SELF- ORGANISATION, OR THE SPONTANEOUS EMERGENCE OF ORDER OUT OF CHAOS. FOCUSED ENOUGH TO PRESENT A COHERENT WORLD UNTO THEMSELVES, STROGATZ'S CHOSEN TOPICS TOUCH ON SEVERAL OF THE HOTTEST DIRECTIONS IN CONTEMPORARY SCIENCE.
About the Author
Steven Strogatz is Professor of Applied Mathematics at Cornell University and one of the world's leading researchers into chaos, complexity and synchronization. His seminal reasearch has been featured in Nature, Science, Scientific American, The New York Times, the New Yorker, and the Daily Telegraph.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
SO WROTE PHILIP LAURENT IN THE JOURNAL Science in 1917, as he joined the debate about this perplexing phenomenon. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
SO WROTE PHILIP LAURENT IN THE JOURNAL Science in 1917, as he joined the debate about this perplexing phenomenon. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
31 of 33 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This book is one of the best examples of popular science that I have read. The author is a scientist and knows his stuff but he also has the ability to explain his material in very simple terms. He does this by the use of relevant and well thought out analogies.
Sync is about things in nature that synchronize without any central controller. Strogatz starts with the example of Fireflies that flash on and off together in their thousands. The book then takes us on a journey through a surprisingly large range of natural phenomena that exhibit sync and the science that is revealing how sync works.
This is a relatively easy book to read. There are no equations. The writing style is as good as any I have encountered. There are real and interesting characters and just the right level of humour. It is not a text book and does not pretend to be. It is popular (but serious) science done very well.
Best of all for me is the genuine excitement which the book conveys about this subject. It has inspired me to seek out other books on the same theme and I would definitely read another book by Steven Strogatz.
16 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Sync investigates the concept of universal harmony. The drive to synchronization is one of the most far-reaching phenomena in the universe, encompassing people, planets, atoms, animals and a whole lot more. But the laws of Thermodynamics seem to dictate the opposite - that nature should degenerate toward entropy. This is not so, as magnificent small and large structures like galaxies and cells keep assembling themselves in perfect harmony.
Drawing on Chaos & Complexity Theory, Strogatz examines the connections linking the phenomena of the mathematics of self-organization, where trillions of interactions result in order emerging from chaos. There is a steady and insistent pulse at the heart of the cosmos that resonates from the nucleus of the cell to the largest galaxy in a chorus of synchronized cycles that pervade all of nature.
The author refers to the work of scientists from many disciplines, including Einstein, Richard Feynman, Brian Josephson, Norbert Wiener, Paul Erdos, Stanley Milgram, Boris Belousov Edward Lorenz and Arthur Winfree. Part One, Living In Sync, deals with these manifestations in for example human brainwaves and the behaviour of fireflies, whilst Part Two, Discovering Sync, looks at the universe as a whole and at quantum theory. Part Three, Exploring Sync, investigates synchronization, chaos and small world networks.
There are some black and white illustrations, copious notes and an index. This book is a fascinating journey through the strange and beautiful phenomenon of synchronization, the harmonious music of the universe that builds and sustains life.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
To put it briefly, "Sync" discusses exciting and original ideas in a very enjoyable manner (Strogatz is a natural!). Readers that like Popular Science will love it.
The subject is described by the subtitle: "The emerging science of spontaneous order".
From complex forms of life (human beings and our heartbeat or our sleeping cycles) to simpler ones (fireflies that synchronize their flashes in densely verdant environments so that they can attract their match), sync appears to be playing an important role.
Interestingly, it does so in inanimate things as well: London's Millennium Bridge almost collapsed because of a synchronizing feedback loop between pedestrian stepping and the bridge's swaying. The idea in fact penetrates a range of scientific areas: The quantum world, chaotic systems (systems ruled by a vast number of parameters). Even Small Worlds (networks structured in neighbourhoods so that each node distances from any other by at most 6 links. Social networks is an example, yes you are most probably just 6 people away from president Obama!).
Some chapters (few) are quite difficult to follow. If you find yourself in this situation, just read them fast or jump to the next chapter, they are independent. And from the Pop Sci point of view the easy ones contain the most fascinating ideas.
The subject is described by the subtitle: "The emerging science of spontaneous order".
From complex forms of life (human beings and our heartbeat or our sleeping cycles) to simpler ones (fireflies that synchronize their flashes in densely verdant environments so that they can attract their match), sync appears to be playing an important role.
Interestingly, it does so in inanimate things as well: London's Millennium Bridge almost collapsed because of a synchronizing feedback loop between pedestrian stepping and the bridge's swaying. The idea in fact penetrates a range of scientific areas: The quantum world, chaotic systems (systems ruled by a vast number of parameters). Even Small Worlds (networks structured in neighbourhoods so that each node distances from any other by at most 6 links. Social networks is an example, yes you are most probably just 6 people away from president Obama!).
Some chapters (few) are quite difficult to follow. If you find yourself in this situation, just read them fast or jump to the next chapter, they are independent. And from the Pop Sci point of view the easy ones contain the most fascinating ideas.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Communication
For the most part though,it reminded me of James Gleicks' Chaos book in the way that the Sync story is conveyed with tales of maverick characters on the fringes of established... Read more
Published 4 months ago by nicholas hargreaves
Spontaneous order brought to life.
This is a fantastic book packed with insights and wonderful ideas. Its subject is the power of synchronisation, or as the book's subtitle puts it, `the emergence of spontaneous... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Steven Unwin
Zis book makes you sync!
Strogatz seems well qualified and certainly has plenty of subject matter. The book follows a logical (chronological) order. Read more
Published 19 months ago by J. Taylor
Excelent book
A marvellously readable book which gives feeling that sync is part of our life. Author provides very interesting live examples and describes complex theory in fascinating way.
Published 20 months ago by krystian
Simply the best
This is beyond doubt one of the finest books I have read in recent years. It is obviously not intended as an easy read but the author has dealt with some extremely difficult... Read more
Published on 20 May 2009 by J. Robinson
A superb read.
Inspiring, entertaining, fascinating. Sync is a real treasure trove for anyone interested in emergence, non-linear dynamics, networks and A-Life. Read more
Published on 29 May 2007 by Interested in Books
A wonderfully interesting book - seeing the world from a different...
This book and the ideas it introduces are rather like going skydiving for the first time. Thrust into a whole new world of knowledge it is at first unnerving, later exhilirating,... Read more
Published on 21 Dec 2006 by A. Jessop
Utterly fascinating
Whilst the book lacked some cohesion and a decent conclusion much of the information was fascinating. I especially enjoyed the section on sleep cycles. Read more
Published on 27 Sep 2006 by Jaq
Not an easy read, but definitely an interesting one
A very interesting book on an obviously interesting area of science. Plenty of interesting mathematics (without equations and the drudgery) to keep the interest, combined with... Read more
Published on 5 Jan 2004
I'm too thick for popular science books
This book left me feeling really thick. And I got a First at Cambridge as well (no, really I did). I'd give it 4 stars but I could do with just a few equations, because I think... Read more
Published on 11 May 2003 by Ram Kumar
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