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The Collapse of Chaos: Discovering Simplicity in a Complex World (Penguin Press Science) (Paperback)

by Jack S. Cohen (Author), Ian Stewart (Author) "A yeshiva boy-a young man studying in a rabbinical college-took instruction from three rabbis ..." (more)

4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)

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Product details

Paperback: 512 pages
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd; New edition edition (27 April 1995)
Language English
ISBN-10: 0140178740
ISBN-13: 978-0140178746
Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.8 x 2.3 cm

Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)

Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 639,199 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)
Popular in these categories:
#56 in Books > Scientific, Technical & Medical > Mathematics > Applied Mathematics > Chaos & Fractal Theory
#81 in Books > Science & Nature > Mathematics > Chaos

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Product Description

Moving on from his books on chaos ("Does God Play Dice?") and symmetry ("Fearful Symmetry"), the author of this book deals with the wider field of complexity theory. The book tackles the question of how complexity arises in nature, of how life overcomes chaos and entropy to create developing order. Co-written with biologist Jack Cohen, the book will range across the central areas of modern science, from quantum mechanics and cosmology to evolution and intelligence, looking at the central questions of order, chaos, reductionism and complexity.

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A yeshiva boy-a young man studying in a rabbinical college-took instruction from three rabbis. Read the first page

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	69% buy the item featured on this page: The Collapse of Chaos: Discovering Simplicity in a Complex World (Penguin Press Science) 4.2 out of 5 stars (5)
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Customer Reviews

5 Reviews

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4.2 out of 5 stars (5 customer reviews)

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21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thorough and thought-provoking, 19 Feb 2002

By	Tom Douglas "Tom" (Oxford, United Kingdom) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This review is from: The Collapse of Chaos: Discovering Simplicity in a Complex World (Penguin Science) (Paperback)

The title of this book is slightly misleading, as it implies it is about chaos, complexity and simplicity.

In fact the first half of the book is a guided tour of biology, chemisty and physics. Covering how these great sciences got where they are today, from Newton to Darwin, DNA to the lattice structure of diamonds.

The second half then presents a new way to look at science. Rather then delving inside something to find underlying rules, we should view things in context.

For example, traditionally the law of gravity is seen as the underlying principle that explains planetary motion. Cohen and Stewart argue that it is just a rule (of thumb?) that fits the facts, and that there is no LAW of gravity, no grand design. Gravity is just the way it is, and our 'Law' of gravity suits our needs.

It seems a subtle distinction, but on reading this book it is quite an important one, and it has certainly given me a different view of the world.

Very intelligent and always interesting, this book is written for the layman and is always at pains to explains matters thoroughly and use every possible analogy to help get ideas across.

This book is worth twice the money for the first half alone - a perfect primer for those interested in science, but who dont want to get technical.

Cohen and Stewart are high level experts in their respective fields, and yet they write simply and lucidly, resulting in a desire to read further.

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24 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Lacks cohesion and analysis, 6 Aug 2001

By	bobobob5 "bobobob5" (london england) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This review is from: The Collapse of Chaos: Discovering Simplicity in a Complex World (Penguin Science) (Paperback)

This book is from what I call the 'anti-reductionist' school of scientific thinking. Its aim is apparently to break the link between what happens at the atomic level and the higher level, i.e. the more visible world of plants, animals, planets etc. If this break could be achieved, the world could then be claimed as free from determinism. This is a key area for philosophers and physicists, and it is linked to the existence of free will. The authors, who are experts in the fields of evolution and modern mathematics, have a mass of material at their disposal, and this seems at times to overwhelm them; my impression is that they could quite easily turn out thousands and thousands of pages on the theme! And that is, in my opinion, the main problem, for if one truly understands a subject, one should be able to express ideas and conclusions quite concisely. After reading the book from cover to cover, I was not at all convinced that there was a cohesive message in any of it. That isn't to say that it doesn't contain a mass of most interesting information; there is surely a lot of fascinating material in the book. But, it seems to lack analysis.

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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, funny and erudite, 7 Jan 2004

By	Jon Freeman "jon2910" (Hampshire, UK) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Collapse of Chaos: Discovering Simplicity in a Complex World (Penguin Science) (Paperback)

In my view an excellent book. It is hard to make science interesting and few writers do it well. It is even harder to make it funny, which these two also manage to do. But best of all is the quality of the thinking and the creativity of the ideas in this book.

There is much in science that is asserted without there being real evidence, and many theories which are accepted by science as proven when there are fundamental questions still remaining. If you have read "The Selfish Gene", and despite the brilliance and persuasiveness of the arguments still feel (as I do) that something is wrong you will like this book.

If you like to think, to be intellectually challenged and stimulated, to explore ideas, or to look at science in different ways than the conventional, I don't think you will be disappointed with this book.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Hard to follow
So without repeating a lot of what has already been written above, I'd like to concur Bobobob5 on the whole. Read more

Published on 2 Nov 2004 by oliverfreke

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent new approach to explaining the world and science
I have been reading quite a few books on the emerging science of complexity, on evolution and I am even trying to do a degree in 'chaos'. Something seemed to be lacking. Read more

Published on 21 Jun 2000

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