 |
|
Title: Deep Simplicity: Bringing Order to Chaos and Complexity
ISBN: 140006256X
Author:
John Gribbin
Publicate Date: 2005-04-05
Publish: 2005-04-05
List Price: $24.95
Average Customer Rating: 4.5
Format: Hardcover
 |
|
|
|
|
Amazon Lowest New Price: $13.99
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $12.50
Amazon Merchant Price: $16.47
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Customer Review: |
|
1: logical and scientific integration is profound
without doubt, this nears limits of ability of man to integrate and articulate possible (?probable) sequence of events from origen of universe to origen of life, as it may be recognized by man. A scientific background and prior understanding of physics/biochemistry/universal law and concept of power laws makes reading "easier on the brain." A second or third reading of this wonderful book is truly worthwhile. For those "spiritual seekers" the author provides a potential platform for the Creators' activities.
|
2: Good update of chaos theory
I had just finished reading James Gleick's Chaos (yes, finally got around to it) and found it well written and deserving of the praise it has received. It is an in depth look at the modern founding of chaos theory and left me wondering about the quickly evolving advances in more recent times. Deep Simplicity was the right choice for me to extend that search. I enjoyed the longer look back at non-linear systems investigations where the mathematics was simply too tedious to carry out by hand. The many iterations necessary to see patterns in results was not practical until the advent of the computer, all 4k of Lorenz' processing power! Gribbon does a commendable of summarizing Gleick's work and moving on to the present. He also expands the effort into a cosmic overview at the end which illustrates nicely the interaction of life and the galactic processes that sustain it. Ultimately, then, if all the parts are necessary, isn't it in some larger sense all alive? Maybe necessary but not sufficient? Gribbon states that the boarder between living and nonliving systems becomes blurred as a result. Nice. My only reservation is that had I not read Chaos first, I think I'd have had less success with Deep Simplicity on its own. As for chaos theory, it is an exciting new descriptive tool, but I'm waiting to see concrete application. Gribbon is a good writer, and I'm looking forward to reading more work by him in the future.
|
3: Fantastic book
I wish this book was available when I went to college. We studied a lot of the things John Gribbin talks about. But it was presented as something very abstract, "pure" advanced math without any connection to the real world around. As such it made for a VERY boring subject and torturous four years.
I am truly amazed at how seemingly easy John Gribbin can take the same subject and explain it so eloquently and in very practical terms! In my view this is a perfect example of a great book (see Mortimer Adler's "How to Read a Book", a must for anyone who wants to read analytically) - it can teach most people something new and make your brain work at it.
Finally, I would not have stumbled upon this book if it wasn't for Charlie Munger (of Berkshire Hathaway fame) and his annual book recommendations at BRK's annual meeting. He is a wise man and this was a proof that it's worth listening to anything he says.
|
4: Cheo-plexity exposed.
It is a very informative, unique work by Gribbin about fascinating topics of physics, biology, life and Universe. What is more important it presents brand new experiments and many (maybe too many) mathematical models of network interconnections between simple parts and models of self-organized criticalities in the phase transition on the edge of chaos. This sounds like difficult text, and indeed, especially the third chapter (bifurcations and fractals) is not an easy read. Persistent and math inclined learner should try to grasp the sense of Power Law ("1/f noise"). Then after, satisfaction and pleasure of reading will grow, everything will become clear towards the end of the book. As a long time ago trained chemist, I was surprised discovering Lars Onsager's description of the FOURTH law of thermodynamics and that Alan Turing was not only an "iconic computer man" but worked on oscillating chemical reactions called "chemical clocks". These reactions (quote): "seemed to fly in the face of the second law of thermodynamics"! I was quite enlightened how phase transition can be explained as phenomena taking place on the edge of chaos. Last chapter is mostly devoted to James Lovelock and "Gaia Theory" presenting Earth as a self-organizing, entropy reducing system (check his last book "Revenge of Gaia"). Maverick physicist Lee Smolin has formulated the similar hypothesis about Milky Way. The field of chaos and complexity states that simple rules must underline many apparently noisy, complicated aspects of nature - and this is what John Gribbin writes about. Whether chaoplexologists will find any profound new scientific laws only time can tell. For now enjoy and reduce your entropy by absorbing information emanating from this book.
|
5: A Beautiful Piece of Literature
I have just finished reading Deep Simplicity and felt the urge to tell anyone who would listen how I felt about the book. Read the other reviewers to find out what the book is about.
There have been very few occasions and very few books that moved me in the way that Deep Simplicity did, for it is a work of art and without doubt a genuinely beautiful piece of literature. What's more, I feel that the beauty inherent in the book is self-similar on many scales, from the lucidly illustrative metaphors, to paragraphs that grab you as they weave delicately expounded threads together, to the overall structure and flow of the book itself. I felt privileged to have read the book.
After I finished I was left with a tremendous sense of appreciation for and recognition with our planet, its biosphere, life, and the Universe at large; even for my fellow man - although our depredations are made strikingly apparent. My final and lasting feeling is one of profound enlightenment; something felt when previously reading Gribbin, but not to this extent.
Thank You John Gribbin, for writing this book; $24.95 in one currency, priceless in another.
|
|
|
|
|
