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Quark and the Jaguar: Adventures in the Simple and the Complex
 
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Quark and the Jaguar: Adventures in the Simple and the Complex (Paperback)

by Murray Gell-Mann (Author)
4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 375 pages
  • Publisher: Henry Holt & Company; Reprint edition (Oct 1995)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0716727250
  • ISBN-13: 978-0716727255
  • Product Dimensions: 23.1 x 14.7 x 3.3 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 553,971 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Quark and the Jaguar: Adventures in the Simple and the Complex
93% buy the item featured on this page:
Quark and the Jaguar: Adventures in the Simple and the Complex 4.3 out of 5 stars (3)
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Customer Reviews

3 Reviews
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 (1)
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Average Customer Review
4.3 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Popular science at its best, 23 Aug 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: The Quark and the Jaguar: Adventures in the Simple and the Complex (Paperback)
This book is written by a true Renaissance mind. Gell-Mann gives us a tour of existing and emerging areas of science and by showing the connections between these diverse areas he shows that there is more to science than the unfortunate extreme specialization that tend to make people from different fields unable to communicate fruitfully. He also shows us how much we may gain from a genuine interest in research areas different from our own.

Gell-Mann's authorship convinces me that that C. P. Snow's argument about the two cultures is not a law of nature.

Popular science, though difficult and often rightfully criticized, is vitally important, especially when introducing young people to scientific ideas. The Quark and the Jaguar is my new standard.

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing, 7 Sep 2006
This review is from: The Quark and the Jaguar: Adventures in the Simple and the Complex (Paperback)
Gell-Mann is a brilliant scientist and his contribution to particle physics and chaos theory cannot be underestimated; his thought is first-class. The topic of this book is emergence, complexity and the future of world, and he has a lot to say about all of these: the importance of holism as opposed to pure reductionism, of generalisation as opposed to pure specialisation.

But as a whole this book does not cohere. It lacks focus and narrative thread, weaving between topics with only minimal attempts to connect them. I have no doubt that the three parts of this book are intimately linked, but the links Gell-Mann imagines to be obvious are, to most minds, far from it.

In short, the ideas espoused here are admirable, but are better addressed elsewhere. A couple of popular science books examine parts of this: James Gleick's 'Chaos' and Steve Grand's 'Creation' are examples. Unfortunately there is nothing else I have experienced that looks at the whole, even in the fragmentary way Gell-Mann does, so there is still a genuine need for this book. If you can get through it, that is.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent book from a first-rate mind, 21 April 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: The Quark and the Jaguar: Adventures in the Simple and the Complex (Paperback)
Too often, we have been subjected to speculative theory-of-everything-is-nigh type books from physicists and physics writers with dubious credentials. This is written by a first-rate thinker, probably the greatest theorist since Feynman. It is fascinating to see sober, well argued analysis and comment on his own field of endeavour, and the sections where he casts his eyes over politics, environmental problems, economics, and the transitions that need to be made by societies show how a top class thinker can operate at high levels across disciplinary boundaries. Undoubtedly the best non-fiction book that I have read in the past few years.
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