| Search | About | Preferences | Interact | Help | |
| 150 million books. 1 search engine. | ||
books tagged “complexity”
books tagged “complexity”
›› Find signed collectible books by ''
English
At Home in the Universe: The Search for Laws of Self-Organization and Complexityby Stuart KauffmanISBN 0195111303 (0-19-511130-3)
Softcover, Oxford Univ Pr
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'At Home in the Universe: The Search for Laws of Self-Organization and Complexity'Book summary:The best treatment I have yet encountered about how order emerges naturally -- and possibly even necessarily -- out of chaos. Profoundly important, and considerably more informed than better-known pop-science treatments of chaos theory. Very highly recommended. [via]
More editions of At Home in the Universe: The Search for Laws of Self-Organization and Complexity:
-
Chaosby James GleickISBN 0140092501 (0-14-009250-1)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'Chaos'Book summary:Few writers distinguish themselves by their ability to write about complicated, even obscure topics clearly and engagingly. James Gleick, a former science writer for the New York Times, resides in this exclusive category. In Chaos, he takes on the job of depicting the first years of the study of chaos--the seemingly random patterns that characterize many natural phenomena.
This is not a purely technical book. Instead, it focuses as much on the scientists studying chaos as on the chaos itself. In the pages of Gleick's book, the reader meets dozens of extraordinary and eccentric people. For instance, Mitchell Feigenbaum, who constructed and regulated his life by a 26-hour clock and watched his waking hours come in and out of phase with those of his coworkers at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
As for chaos itself, Gleick does an outstanding job of explaining the thought processes and investigative techniques that researchers bring to bear on chaos problems. Rather than attempt to explain Julia sets, Lorenz attractors, and the Mandelbrot Set with gigantically complicated equations, Chaos relies on sketches, photographs, and Gleick's wonderful descriptive prose. [via]
The Collapse of Chaos: Discovering Simplicity in a Complex Worldby Ian Stewart, Jack CohenISBN 0670849839 (0-670-84983-9)
Hardcover, Penguin Group USA
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'The Collapse of Chaos: Discovering Simplicity in a Complex World'More editions of The Collapse of Chaos: Discovering Simplicity in a Complex World:
-
The Collapse of Chaos: Discovering Simplicity in a Complex Worldby Jack Cohen, Ian StewartISBN 0140178740 (0-14-017874-0)
Softcover, Penguin Group (Canada)
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'The Collapse of Chaos: Discovering Simplicity in a Complex World'Book summary: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. [via]
More editions of The Collapse of Chaos: Discovering Simplicity in a Complex World:
Complexification: Explaining a Paradoxical World Through the Science of Surpriseby John L. CastiISBN 0060925876 (0-06-092587-6)
Softcover, HarperCollins Canada, Limited
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'Complexification: Explaining a Paradoxical World Through the Science of Surprise'More editions of Complexification: Explaining a Paradoxical World Through the Science of Surprise:
-
Complexity: Life at the Edge of Chaosby Roger LewinISBN 0226476553 (0-226-47655-3)
Softcover, Univ of Chicago Pr
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'Complexity: Life at the Edge of Chaos'Book summary:"Put together one of the world's best science writers with one of the universe's most fascinating subjects and you are bound to produce a wonderful book. . . . The subject of complexity is vital and controversial. This book is important and beautifully done."Stephen Jay Gould[via]
"[Complexity] is that curious mix of complication and organization that we find throughout the natural and human worlds: the workings of a cell, the structure of the brain, the behavior of the stock market, the shifts of political power. . . . It is time science . . . thinks about meaning as well as counting information. . . . This is the core of the complexity manifesto. Read it, think about it . . . but don't ignore it."Ian Stewart, Nature
This second edition has been brought up to date with an essay entitled "On the Edge in the Business World" and an interview with John Holland, author of Emergence: From Chaos to Order.More editions of Complexity: Life at the Edge of Chaos:
- Complexity: Life at the Edge of Chaos: ISBN 0226476545 (0-226-47654-5)
Hardcover, Univ of Chicago Pr - Complexity: Life at the Edge of Chaos: ISBN 0020147953 (0-02-014795-3)
Softcover, Simon & Schuster - Complexity: Life at the Edge of Chaos: ISBN 0025704850 (0-02-570485-0)
Hardcover, Simon & Schuster - Complexity: Life at the Edge of Chaos: ISBN 0226476553 (0-226-47655-3)
Softcover, Univ of Chicago Pr
- Complexity: Life at the Edge of Chaos: ISBN 0226476545 (0-226-47654-5)
The Complexity of Cooperation: Agent-Based Models of Competition and Collaborationby Robert M. AxelrodISBN 0691015678 (0-691-01567-8)
Softcover, Princeton Univ Pr
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'The Complexity of Cooperation: Agent-Based Models of Competition and Collaboration'Book summary:A collection of seven essays that serves as an introductory text on complexity theory and computer modelling in the social sciences, and as an overview of the current state of the art in this field. The articles move beyond the basic paradigm of the "Prisoner's Dilemma" to study a rich set of issues, including how to cope with errors in perception or implementation, how norms emerge, and how political actors and regions of shared culture can develop. They use the shared methodology of agent-based modelling, a technique that specifies the rules of interaction between individuals and uses computer simulation to discover emergent properties of the social system. [via]
More editions of The Complexity of Cooperation: Agent-Based Models of Competition and Collaboration:
-
Complexity: The Emerging Science at the Edge of Order and Chaosby M. Mitchell WaldropISBN 0671872346 (0-671-87234-6)
Softcover, Simon & Schuster
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'Complexity: The Emerging Science at the Edge of Order and Chaos'Book summary:Why did the stock market crash more than 500 points on a single Monday in 1987? Why do ancient species often remain stable in the fossil record for millions of years and then suddenly disappear? In a world where nice guys often finish last, why do humans value trust and cooperation? At first glance these questions don't appear to have anything in common, but in fact every one of these statements refers to a complex system. The science of complexity studies how single elements, such as a species or a stock, spontaneously organize into complicated structures like ecosystems and economies; stars become galaxies, and snowflakes avalanches almost as if these systems were obeying a hidden yearning for order.
Drawing from diverse fields, scientific luminaries such as Nobel Laureates Murray Gell-Mann and Kenneth Arrow are studying complexity at a think tank called The Santa Fe Institute. The revolutionary new discoveries researchers have made there could change the face of every science from biology to cosmology to economics. M. Mitchell Waldrop's groundbreaking bestseller takes readers into the hearts and minds of these scientists to tell the story behind this scientific revolution as it unfolds. [via]
More editions of Complexity: The Emerging Science at the Edge of Order and Chaos:
-
The Computational Beauty of Nature: Computer Explorations of Fractals, Chaos, Complex Systems and Adaptionby Gary FlakeISBN 0262561271 (0-262-56127-1)
Softcover, Mit Pr
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'The Computational Beauty of Nature: Computer Explorations of Fractals, Chaos, Complex Systems and Adaption'Book summary:"Simulation," writes Gary Flake in his preface, "becomes a form of experimentation in a universe of theories. The primary purpose of this book is to celebrate this fact."In this book, Gary William Flake develops in depth the simple idea that recurrent rules can produce rich and complicated behaviors. Distinguishing "agents" (e.g., molecules, cells, animals, and species) from their interactions (e.g., chemical reactions, immune system responses, sexual reproduction, and evolution), Flake argues that it is the computational properties of interactions that account for much of what we think of as "beautiful" and "interesting." From this basic thesis, Flake explores what he considers to be today's four most interesting computational topics: fractals, chaos, complex systems, and adaptation.Each of the book's parts can be read independently, enabling even the casual reader to understand and work with the basic equations and programs. Yet the parts are bound together by the theme of the computer as a laboratory and a metaphor for understanding the universe. The inspired reader will experiment further with the ideas presented to create fractal landscapes, chaotic systems, artificial life forms, genetic algorithms, and artificial neural networks.
[via]More editions of The Computational Beauty of Nature: Computer Explorations of Fractals, Chaos, Complex Systems and Adaption:
The Computational Beauty of Nature: Computer Explorations of Fractals, Chaos, Complex Systems, and Adaptationby Gary William FlakeISBN 0262062003 (0-262-06200-3)
Hardcover, Mit Pr
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'The Computational Beauty of Nature: Computer Explorations of Fractals, Chaos, Complex Systems, and Adaptation'More editions of The Computational Beauty of Nature: Computer Explorations of Fractals, Chaos, Complex Systems, and Adaptation:
-
Computers and Intractability: A Guide to the Theory of Np-Completenessby Michael R. Garey, David S. JohnsonISBN 0716710455 (0-7167-1045-5)
Softcover, W H Freeman & Co
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'Computers and Intractability: A Guide to the Theory of Np-Completeness'Book summary:This book's introduction features a humorous story of a man with a line of people behind him, who explains to his boss, "I can't find an efficient algorithm, but neither can all these famous people." This man illustrates an important quality of a class of problems, namely, the NP-complete problems: if you can prove that a problem is in this class, then it has no known polynomial-time solution that is guaranteed to work in general. This quality implies that the problem is difficult to deal with in practice.
The focus of this book is to teach the reader how to identify, deal with, and understand the essence of NP-complete problems; Computers and Intractability does all of those things effectively. In a readable yet mathematically rigorous manner, the book covers topics such as how to prove that a given problem is NP-complete and how to cope with NP-complete problems. (There is even a chapter on advanced topics, with numerous references.) Computers and Intractability also contains a list of more than 300 problems--most of which are known to be NP-complete--with comments and references. [via]
More editions of Computers and Intractability: A Guide to the Theory of Np-Completeness:
The Cosmic Blueprint: New Discoveries in Nature's Creative Ability to Order the Universeby Paul DaviesISBN 1932031669 (1-932031-66-9)
Softcover, Templeton Foundation Pr
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'The Cosmic Blueprint: New Discoveries in Nature's Creative Ability to Order the Universe'More editions of The Cosmic Blueprint: New Discoveries in Nature's Creative Ability to Order the Universe:
-
Critical Mass: How One Thing Leads to Anotherby Philip BallISBN 0374530416 (0-374-53041-6)
Softcover, Farrar Straus & Giroux
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'Critical Mass: How One Thing Leads to Another'Book summary:Are there any "laws of nature" that influence the ways in which humans behave and organize themselves? In the seventeenth century, tired of the civil war ravaging England, Thomas Hobbes decided that he would work out what kind of government was needed for a stable society. His approach was based not on utopian wishful thinking but rather on Galileo's mechanics to construct a theory of government from first principles. His solution is unappealing to today's society, yet Hobbes had sparked a new way of thinking about human behavior in looking for the "scientific" rules of society.[via]
Adam Smith, Immanuel Kant, Auguste Comte, and John Stuart Mill pursued this idea from different political perspectives. Little by little, however, social and political philosophy abandoned a "scientific" approach. Today, physics is enjoying a revival in the social, political and economic sciences. Ball shows how much we can understand of human behavior when we cease to try to predict and analyze the behavior of individuals and instead look to the impact of individual decisions-whether in circumstances of cooperation or conflict-can have on our laws, institutions and customs.
Lively and compelling, Critical Mass is the first book to bring these new ideas together and to show how they fit within the broader historical context of a rational search for better ways to live.More editions of Critical Mass: How One Thing Leads to Another:
Deep Simplicity: Bringing Order To Chaos And Complexityby John GribbinISBN 140006256X (1-4000-6256-X)
Hardcover, Random House Inc
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'Deep Simplicity: Bringing Order To Chaos And Complexity'More editions of Deep Simplicity: Bringing Order To Chaos And Complexity:
The Dreams of Reason: The Computer and the Rise of the Sciences of Complexityby Heinz R. PagelsISBN 0553347101 (0-553-34710-1)
Softcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'The Dreams of Reason: The Computer and the Rise of the Sciences of Complexity'More editions of The Dreams of Reason: The Computer and the Rise of the Sciences of Complexity:
Emergence: From Chaos to Orderby John Henry HollandISBN 0738201421 (0-7382-0142-1)
Softcover, Basic Books
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'Emergence: From Chaos to Order'Book summary:"Emergence" is the notion that the whole is more than the sum of its parts. John Holland, a MacArthur Fellow known as the "father of genetic algorithms," says this seemingly simple notion will be at the heart of the development of machines that can think for themselves. And while he claims that he'd rather do science than write about it, this is his second scientific philosophy book intended to increase public understanding of difficult concepts (his first was Hidden Order: How Adaptation Builds Complexity). One of the questions that Holland says emergence theory can help answer is: can we build systems from which more comes out than was put in? Think of the food replicators in the imaginary future of Star Trek--with some basic chemical building blocks and simple rules, those machines can produce everything from Klingon delicacies to Earl Grey tea. If scientists can understand and apply the knowledge they gather from studying emergent systems, we may soon witness the development of artificial intelligence, nanotech, biological machines, and other creations heretofore confined to science fiction. Using games, molecules, maps, and scientific theories as examples, Holland outlines how emergence works, emphasizing the interrelationships of simple rules and parts in generating a complex whole. Because of the theoretical depth, this book probably won't appeal to the casual reader of popular science, but those interested in delving a little deeper into the future of science and engineering will be fascinated. Holland's writing, while sometimes self-consciously precise, is clear, and he links his theoretical arguments to examples in the real world whenever possible. Emergence offers insight not just to scientific advancement, but across many areas of human endeavor--business, the arts, even the evolution of society and the generation of new ideas. --Therese Littleton [via]
More editions of Emergence: From Chaos to Order:
-
Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Softwareby Steven JohnsonISBN 0684868768 (0-684-86876-8)
Softcover, Scribner
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software'Book summary:An individual ant, like an individual neuron, is just about as dumb as can be. Connect enough of them together properly, though, and you get spontaneous intelligence. Web pundit Steven Johnson explains what we know about this phenomenon with a rare lucidity in Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software. Starting with the weird behavior of the semi-colonial organisms we call slime molds, Johnson details the development of increasingly complex and familiar behavior among simple components: cells, insects, and software developers all find their place in greater schemes.
Most game players, alas, live on something close to day-trader time, at least when they're in the middle of a game--thinking more about their next move than their next meal, and usually blissfully oblivious to the ten- or twenty-year trajectory of software development. No one wants to play with a toy that's going to be fun after a few decades of tinkering--the toys have to be engaging now, or kids will find other toys.
Johnson has a knack for explaining complicated and counterintuitive ideas cleverly without stealing the scene. Though we're far from fully understanding how complex behavior manifests from simple units and rules, our awareness that such emergence is possible is guiding research across disciplines. Readers unfamiliar with the sciences of complexity will find Emergence an excellent starting point, while those who were chaotic before it was cool will appreciate its updates and wider scope. --Rob Lightner [via]
More editions of Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software:
-
Exploring Complexity: An Introductionby Ilya Prigogine, Gregoire NicolisISBN 0716718596 (0-7167-1859-6)
Hardcover, W H Freeman & Co
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'Exploring Complexity: An Introduction'Book summary:Unexpected discoveries in nonequilibrium physics and nonlinear dynamics are changing our understanding of complex phenomena. Recent research has revealed fundamental new properties of matter in far-from-equilibrium conditions, and the prevalence of instability-where small changes in initial conditions may lead to amplified effects. [via]
More editions of Exploring Complexity: An Introduction:
Frontiers of Complexity: The Search for Order in a Chaotic Worldby Peter Coveney, Roger HighfieldISBN 0449910814 (0-449-91081-4)
Softcover, Ballantine Books
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'Frontiers of Complexity: The Search for Order in a Chaotic World'Book summary:Accessible yet rigorous, this book goes far beyond most popularizations of "chaos" theory and presents the science of complexity, its historical origins, and current applications to cosmology, particle physics, ecology, evolution, and neurobiology. The emphasis on scientific computation and visualization as the microscope and lab bench of this new science is particularly welcome. Very Highly Recommended. [via]
More editions of Frontiers of Complexity: The Search for Order in a Chaotic World:
The Hidden Connections: A Science of Sustainable Livingby Fritjof CapraISBN 0385494726 (0-385-49472-6)
Softcover, Anchor Books
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'The Hidden Connections: A Science of Sustainable Living'More editions of The Hidden Connections: A Science of Sustainable Living:
-
The Hidden Connections : Integrating the Biological, Cognitive, and Social Dimensions of Life into a Science of Sustainabilityby Fritjof CapraISBN 0385494718 (0-385-49471-8)
Hardcover, Doubleday Publishing
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'The Hidden Connections : Integrating the Biological, Cognitive, and Social Dimensions of Life into a Science of Sustainability'Book summary:The author of the bestselling The Tao of Physics and The Web of Life explores the profound social implications of emerging scientific principles and provides an innovative framework for using them to understand and solve some of the most important issues of our time.
For most of history, scientific investigation was based on linear thinking. But the 1980's brought a revolutionary change. With the advent of improved computer power, scientists could apply complexity theory--nonlinear thinking--to scientific processes far more easily than ever before. Physicist Fritjof Capra was at the forefront of the revolution, and in The Web of Life he extended its scope by showing the impact of complexity theory on living organisms. In The Hidden Connections he breaks through another frontier, this time applying the principles of complexity theory to an analysis of the broad sphere of all human interactions.
Capra posits that in order to sustain life in the future, the principles underlying our social institutions must be consistent with the organization that nature has evolved to sustain the "web of life." In a lucid and convincing argument, Capra explains how the theoretical ideas of science can be applied to the practical concerns of our time. Covering every aspect of human nature and society, he discusses such vital matters as the management of human organizations, the challenges and dangers of economic globalization, and the nature and the problems of biotechnology. He concludes with an authoritative, often provocative plan for designing ecologically sustainable communities and technologies as alternatives to the current economic globalization.
A brilliant, incisive examination of the relationship between science and our social systems, The Hidden Connections will spark enormous debate in the scientific community and inspire us to think about the future of humanity in a new way. [via]More editions of The Hidden Connections : Integrating the Biological, Cognitive, and Social Dimensions of Life into a Science of Sustainability:
Hidden Order: How Adaptation Builds Complexityby John H. HollandISBN 0201442302 (0-201-44230-2)
Softcover, Basic Books
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'Hidden Order: How Adaptation Builds Complexity'More editions of Hidden Order: How Adaptation Builds Complexity:
-
How Nature Works: The Science of Self-Organized Criticalityby Per BakISBN 038798738X (0-387-98738-X)
Softcover, Springer
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'How Nature Works: The Science of Self-Organized Criticality'Book summary:. . . In print, at least, what might seem arrogant comes across as a kind of innocent, childlike enthusiasm, a lack of concern for anything but the sheer joy of figuring things out. His ruthless simplifications of geology, evolution, and neurology pay off because, as Bak notes, his models describe behavior that is common across these domains. This universality means that trampling across others' turf is not only acceptable, but almost mandatory, if the underlying principles are to be exposed. Finally, for the most part, Bak wants the reader to grasp the basic logic of his arguments; only rarely does he try to persuade with flights of poetic language or brute intellectual authority. [via]
More editions of How Nature Works: The Science of Self-Organized Criticality:
-
How Would You Move Mount Fuji?: Microsoft's Cult of the Puzzleby William PoundstoneISBN 0316919160 (0-316-91916-0)
Hardcover, Little Brown & Co
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'How Would You Move Mount Fuji?: Microsoft's Cult of the Puzzle'Book summary:Microsoft's interview process is a notoriously grueling sequence of brain-busting questions that separate the most creative thinkers from the merely brilliant. So effective is their technique that other leading corporations--from the high-tech industry to consulting and financial services--are modeling their own hiring practices on Bill Gates' unique approach. HOW WOULD YOU MOVE MOUNT FUJI? reveals for the first time more than 35 of Microsoft's puzzles and riddles. [via]
More editions of How Would You Move Mount Fuji?: Microsoft's Cult of the Puzzle:
-
How Would You Move Mount Fuji?: Microsoft's Cult of the Puzzle--How the World's Smartest Companies Select the Most Creative Thinkersby William PoundstoneISBN 0316778494 (0-316-77849-4)
Softcover, Little Brown & Co
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'How Would You Move Mount Fuji?: Microsoft's Cult of the Puzzle--How the World's Smartest Companies Select the Most Creative Thinkers'Book summary:For years, Microsoft and other high-tech companies have been posing riddles and logic puzzles like these in their notoriously grueling job interviews. Now "puzzle interviews" have become a hot new trend in hiring. From Wall Street to Silicon Valley, employers are using tough and tricky questions to gauge job candidates' intelligence, imagination, and problem-solving ability -- qualities needed to survive in today's hypercompetitive global marketplace. For the first time, William Poundstone reveals the toughest questions used at Microsoft and other Fortune 500 companies -- and supplies the answers. He traces the rise and controversial fall of employer-mandated IQ tests, the peculiar obsessions of Bill Gates (who plays jigsaw puzzles as a competitive sport), the sadistic mind games of Wall Street (which reportedly led one job seeker to smash a forty-third-story window), and the bizarre excesses of today's hiring managers (who may start off your interview with a box of Legos or a game of virtual Russian roulette). How Would You Move Mount Fuji? is an indispensable book for anyone in business. Managers seeking the most talented employees will learn to incorporate puzzle interviews in their search for the top candidates. Job seekers will discover how to tackle even the most brain-busting questions, and gain the advantage that could win the job of a lifetime. And anyone who has ever dreamed of going up against the best minds in business may discover that these puzzles are simply a lot of fun. Why are beer cans tapered on the end, anyway? [via]
More editions of How Would You Move Mount Fuji?: Microsoft's Cult of the Puzzle--How the World's Smartest Companies Select the Most Creative Thinkers:
-
Investigationsby Stuart A. KauffmanISBN 0195121058 (0-19-512105-8)
Softcover, Oxford Univ Pr
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'Investigations'Book summary:As a rule, when a distinguished scientist says he's come up with a fourth law of thermodynamics, he's wrong. In Investigations, Stuart Kauffman may be the exception.
The three laws of thermodynamics have been summarised as: "you can't win", "you can't break even", and "you can't get out of the game". Kauffman's candidate for a fourth law is: "but the game keeps getting more complicated, and there are always different ways to play."
One of Kauffman's key concepts is that of the adjacent possible. Imagine a set of things that exists in a particular system (such as a group of reacting chemicals, or an ecological community, or the kinds of toys available in a capitalist economy). The adjacent possible is the set of things that are only one step away from actual existence. Like potential energy in physics, the adjacent possible is a metaphysical idea with real utility.
You can think of "normal science" (as described by Thomas Kuhn in The Structure of Scientific Revolutions) as proceeding step by step into the adjacent possible. Most self-styled revolutionary scientific treatises are really crackpottery. They don't stop in the adjacent possible; they go wandering across the landscape and over the speculative horizon. Investigations may be the real thing. Kauffman is pushing into the adjacent possible at many points, from biology, chemistry, thermodynamics, and economics. As he says, "whatever Investigations is--useful, as I hope, or foolish--it is not normal science." --Mary Ellen Curtin [via]
-
La economia Long Tail/ The Long Tail: De Los Mercados De Masas Al Triunfo De Lo Minoritario/ Why The Future of Business Is Selling Less of Moreby Chris AndersonISBN 1401308600 (1-4013-0860-0)
Softcover, Hyperion
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'La economia Long Tail/ The Long Tail: De Los Mercados De Masas Al Triunfo De Lo Minoritario/ Why The Future of Business Is Selling Less of More'Book summary:What happens when the bottlenecks that stand between supply and demand in our culture go away and everything becomes available to everyone?
"The Long Tail" is a powerful new force in our economy: the rise of the niche. As the cost of reaching consumers drops dramatically, our markets are shifting from a one-size-fits-all model of mass appeal to one of unlimited variety for unique tastes. From supermarket shelves to advertising agencies, the ability to offer vast choice is changing everything, and causing us to rethink where our markets lie and how to get to them. Unlimited selection is revealing truths about what consumers want and how they want to get it, from DVDs at Netflix to songs on iTunes to advertising on Google.
However, this is not just a virtue of online marketplaces; it is an example of an entirely new economic model for business, one that is just beginning to show its power. After a century of obsessing over the few products at the head of the demand curve, the new economics of distribution allow us to turn our focus to the many more products in the tail, which collectively can create a new market as big as the one we already know.
The Long Tail is really about the economics of abundance. New efficiencies in distribution, manufacturing, and marketing are essentially resetting the definition of what's commercially viable across the board. If the 20th century was about hits, the 21st will be equally about niches.
[via]More editions of La economia Long Tail/ The Long Tail: De Los Mercados De Masas Al Triunfo De Lo Minoritario/ Why The Future of Business Is Selling Less of More:
Life Itself: A Comprehensive Inquiry Into The Nature, Origin, And Fabrication Of Lifeby Robert RosenISBN 0231075650 (0-231-07565-0)
Softcover, Columbia Univ Pr
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'Life Itself: A Comprehensive Inquiry Into The Nature, Origin, And Fabrication Of Life'Book summary:Why are living things alive? As a theoretical biologist, Robert Rosen saw this as the most fundamental of all questions-and yet it had never been answered satisfactorily by science. The answers to this question would allow humanity to make an enormous leap forward in our understanding of the principles at work in our world.
For centuries, it was believed that the only scientific approach to the question "What is life?" must proceed from the Cartesian metaphor (organism as machine). Classical approaches in science, which also borrow heavily from Newtonian mechanics, are based on a process called "reductionism." The thinking was that we can better learn about an intricate, complicated system (like an organism) if we take it apart, study the components, and then reconstruct the system-thereby gaining an understanding of the whole.
However, Rosen argues that reductionism does not work in biology and ignores the complexity of organisms. Life Itself, a landmark work, represents the scientific and intellectual journey that led Rosen to question reductionism and develop new scientific approaches to understanding the nature of life. Ultimately, Rosen proposes an answer to the original question about the causal basis of life in organisms. He asserts that renouncing the mechanistic and reductionistic paradigm does not mean abandoning science. Instead, Rosen offers an alternate paradigm for science that takes into account the relational impacts of organization in natural systems and is based on organized matter rather than on particulate matter alone.
Central to Rosen's work is the idea of a "complex system," defined as any system that cannot be fully understood by reducing it to its parts. In this sense, complexity refers to the causal impact of organization on the system as a whole. Since both the atom and the organism can be seen to fit that description, Rosen asserts that complex organization is a general feature not just of the biosphere on Earth-but of the universe itself.
[via]More editions of Life Itself: A Comprehensive Inquiry Into The Nature, Origin, And Fabrication Of Life:
Linked: The New Science of Networksby Alberto-Laszlo BarabasiISBN 0738206679 (0-7382-0667-9)
Hardcover, Perseus Books Group
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'Linked: The New Science of Networks'More editions of Linked: The New Science of Networks:
-
Linked: How Everything Is Connected to Everything Else and What It Means for Business, Science, and Everyday Lifeby Albert-Laszlo BarabasiISBN 0452284392 (0-452-28439-2)
Softcover, Plume
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'Linked: How Everything Is Connected to Everything Else and What It Means for Business, Science, and Everyday Life'Book summary:How is the human brain like the AIDS epidemic? Ask physicist Albert-László Barabási and he'll explain them both in terms of networks of individual nodes connected via complex but understandable relationships. Linked: The New Science of Networks is his bright, accessible guide to the fundamentals underlying neurology, epidemiology, Internet traffic, and many other fields united by complexity.
Barabási's gift for concrete, nonmathematical explanations and penchant for eccentric humor would make the book thoroughly enjoyable even if the content weren't engaging. But the results of Barabási's research into the behavior of networks are deeply compelling. Not all networks are created equal, he says, and he shows how even fairly robust systems like the Internet could be crippled by taking out a few super-connected nodes, or hubs. His mathematical descriptions of this behavior are helping doctors, programmers, and security professionals design systems better suited to their needs. Linked presents the next step in complexity theory--from understanding chaos to practical applications. --Rob Lightner [via]
More editions of Linked: How Everything Is Connected to Everything Else and What It Means for Business, Science, and Everyday Life:
-
The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of Moreby Chris AndersonISBN 1401302378 (1-4013-0237-8)
Hardcover, Hyperion Books
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More'Book summary:What happens when the bottlenecks that stand between supply and demand in our culture go away and everything becomes available to everyone?
"The Long Tail" is a powerful new force in our economy: the rise of the niche. As the cost of reaching consumers drops dramatically, our markets are shifting from a one-size-fits-all model of mass appeal to one of unlimited variety for unique tastes. From supermarket shelves to advertising agencies, the ability to offer vast choice is changing everything, and causing us to rethink where our markets lie and how to get to them. Unlimited selection is revealing truths about what consumers want and how they want to get it, from DVDs at Netflix to songs on iTunes to advertising on Google.
However, this is not just a virtue of online marketplaces; it is an example of an entirely new economic model for business, one that is just beginning to show its power. After a century of obsessing over the few products at the head of the demand curve, the new economics of distribution allow us to turn our focus to the many more products in the tail, which collectively can create a new market as big as the one we already know.
The Long Tail is really about the economics of abundance. New efficiencies in distribution, manufacturing, and marketing are essentially resetting the definition of what's commercially viable across the board. If the 20th century was about hits, the 21st will be equally about niches.
[via]More editions of The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More:
-
Meta Math!: The Quest for Omegaby GREGORY CHAITINISBN 1400077974 (1-4000-7797-4)
Softcover, Vintage Books
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'Meta Math!: The Quest for Omega'Book summary:Gregory Chaitin, one of the worlds foremost mathematicians, leads us on a spellbinding journey, illuminating the process by which he arrived at his groundbreaking theory.
Chaitins revolutionary discovery, the Omega number, is an exquisitely complex representation of unknowability in mathematics. His investigations shed light on what we can ultimately know about the universe and the very nature of life. In an infectious and enthusiastic narrative, Chaitin delineates the specific intellectual and intuitive steps he took toward the discovery. He takes us to the very frontiers of scientific thinking, and helps us to appreciate the artand the sheer beautyin the science of math. [via]More editions of Meta Math!: The Quest for Omega:
Mind and Natureby Gregory BatesonISBN 0553345753 (0-553-34575-3)
Softcover, Bantam Books
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'Mind and Nature'More editions of Mind and Nature:
-
Mind and Nature: A Necessary Unityby Gregory BatesonISBN 1572734345 (1-57273-434-5)
Softcover, Hampton Pr
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'Mind and Nature: A Necessary Unity'Book summary:Renowned for his contributions to anthropology, biology, and the social sciences, Bateson asserts that man must think as Nature does to live in harmony on the earth and, citing examples from the natural world, he maintains that biological evolution is a mental process. [via]
More editions of Mind and Nature: A Necessary Unity:
The Moment of Complexity: Emerging Network Cultureby Mark C. TaylorISBN 0226791181 (0-226-79118-1)
Softcover, Univ of Chicago Pr
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'The Moment of Complexity: Emerging Network Culture'Book summary:"The Moment of Complexity is a profoundly original work. In remarkable and insightful ways, Mark Taylor traces an entirely new way to view the evolution of our culture, detailing how information theory and the scientific concept of complexity can be used to understand recent developments in the arts and humanities. This book will ultimately be seen as a classic."-John L. Casti, Santa Fe Institute, author of Gödel: A Life of Logic, the Mind, and Mathematics[via]
The science of complexity accounts for that inscrutable mix of chaos and order that governs our natural world. Complexity explains how networks emerge and function, how species organize into ecosystems, how stars form into galaxies, and how just a few sequences of DNA can account for so many different life forms. Recently, the idea of complexity has taken the worlds of business and politics by storm. The concept is used to account for phenomena as varied as the behavior of the stock market, the response of voting populations, and the effects of risk management. Even Disney has used complexity theory to manage crowd control at its theme parks.
Given the startling development of new information technologies, we now live in a moment of unprecedented complexity, an era in which change occurs faster than our ability to comprehend it. With The Moment of Complexity, Mark C. Taylor offers a timely map for this unfamiliar terrain opening in our midst, unfolding an original philosophy through a remarkable synthesis of science and culture. According to Taylor, complexity is not just a breakthrough scientific concept, but the defining quality of the post-Cold War era. The flux of digital currents swirling around us, he argues, has created a new network culture with its own distinctive logic and dynamic.
Drawing on resources from information theory and evolutionary biology, Taylor explains the operation of complex adaptive systems in social and cultural processes and captures a whole new zeitgeist in the making. To appreciate the significance of our emerging network culture, he claims, we need not only to understand contemporary scientific and technological transformations, but also to explore the subtle influences of art, architecture, philosophy, religion, and higher education. The Moment of Complexity, then, is a remarkable work of cultural analysis on a scale rarely seen today. To follow its trajectory is to learn how we arrived at this critical moment in our culture, and to know where we might head in the twenty-first century.More editions of The Moment of Complexity: Emerging Network Culture:
-
A New Kind of Scienceby Stephen WolframISBN 1579550088 (1-57955-008-8)
Hardcover, Wolfram Media Inc
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'A New Kind of Science'Book summary:Physics and computer science genius Stephen Wolfram, whose Mathematica computer language launched a multimillion-dollar company, now sets his sights on a more daunting goal: understanding the universe. A New Kind of Science is a gorgeous, 1,280-page tome more than a decade in the making. With patience, insight, and self-confidence to spare, Wolfram outlines a fundamental new way of modelling complex systems.
On the frontier of complexity science since he was a boy, Wolfram is a champion of cellular automata--256 "programs" governed by simple non-mathematical rules. He points out that even the most complex equations fail to accurately model biological systems, but the simplest cellular automata can produce results straight out of nature--tree branches, stream eddies, and leopard spots, for instance. The graphics in A New Kind of Science show striking resemblance to the patterns we see in nature every day.
Wolfram wrote the book in a distinct style meant to make it easy to read, even for non-techies; a basic familiarity with logic is helpful but not essential. Readers will find themselves swept away by the elegant simplicity of Wolfram's ideas and the accidental artistry of the cellular automaton models. Whether or not Wolfram's revolution ultimately gives us the keys to the universe, his new science is absolutely awe-inspiring. --Therese Littleton [via]
More editions of A New Kind of Science:
-
Nexus: Small Worlds and the Groundbreaking Science of Networksby Mark BuchananISBN 0393324427 (0-393-32442-7)
Softcover, W W Norton & Co Inc
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'Nexus: Small Worlds and the Groundbreaking Science of Networks'Book summary:As Chaos explained the science of disorder, Nexus reveals the new science of connection and the odd logic of six degrees of separation. How can geometry explain the puzzles of human behavior? In this incisive, insightful work Mark Buchanan presents the fundamental principles of the emerging field of "small worlds" theorythe idea that a hidden pattern is the key to how networks interact and exchange information, whether that network is the information highway or the firing of neurons in the brain. Mathematicians, physicists, computer scientists, and social scientists are working to decipher this complex organizational system, for it may yield a blueprint of dynamic interactions within our physical as well as social worlds. Highlighting groundbreaking research behind network theory, Buchanan documents mounting support for the small-worlds idea and demonstrates its multiple applications to diverse problemswhether explaining the volatile global economy or the Human Genome Project, the spread of infectious disease or ecological damage. Nexus is an exciting introduction to the hidden geometry that weaves our lives so inextricably together. 20 illustrations. [via]
More editions of Nexus: Small Worlds and the Groundbreaking Science of Networks:
Order Out of Chaos: Man's New Dialogue With Natureby Ilya Prigogine, Isabelle StengersISBN 0553340824 (0-553-34082-4)
Softcover, Bantam Books
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'Order Out of Chaos: Man's New Dialogue With Nature'Book summary:Ilya Prigogine, winner of the Nobel Prize in 1977 for his work on the thermodynamics of non-equilibrium systems, makes his ideas accessible to a wide audience in this book, which has engendered massive debate in Europe and America. He and his colleague, Isabelle Stengers, show how the two great themes of classic science, order and chaos, which coexisted uneasily for centuries, are being reconciled in a new and unexpected synthesis. [via]
More editions of Order Out of Chaos: Man's New Dialogue With Nature:
- Order Out of Chaos : Man's New Dialogue with Nature: ISBN 0553343637 (0-553-34363-7)
Softcover, Bantam Books - Order Out of Chaos : Man's New Dialogue with Nature: ISBN 0394542045 (0-394-54204-5)
Hardcover, Shambhala Publications, Incorporated - Order Out of Chaos: Man's New Dialogue With Nature: ISBN 0877733023 (0-87773-302-3)
Hardcover, New Science Library - Order Out of Chaos: Man's New Dialogue With Nature: ISBN 0553340824 (0-553-34082-4)
Softcover, Bantam Books
- Order Out of Chaos : Man's New Dialogue with Nature: ISBN 0553343637 (0-553-34363-7)
The Origins of Order: Self-Organization and Selection in Evolutionby Stuart A. KauffmanISBN 0195079515 (0-19-507951-5)
Softcover, Oxford Univ Pr
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'The Origins of Order: Self-Organization and Selection in Evolution'Book summary:Stuart Kauffman has written a challenging book on the general problem of the origins of life and maintenance of order in complex biological systems. Kauffman contends that the basic concepts of Darwinian evolution by natural selection must be extended to accommodate new information from molecular biology, chemistry, physics, and mathematics. Kauffman's hallmark is a shift to nonlinear paradigms for living systems. Kauffman argues that biological order is largely self-organized and spontaneous, and proposes to extend evolutionary theory beyond Darwin. His thesis requires three components: an understanding of spontaneous sources of order and self-organization; integration with natural selection, which in Kauffman's scheme molds biological order; and a consideration of adaptation. Origins of Order will advance our understanding of evolution and provoke considerable discussion among evolutionary, molecular and developmental biologists. [via]
More editions of The Origins of Order: Self-Organization and Selection in Evolution:
-
Out of Control: The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems and the Economic Worldby Kevin KellyISBN 0201483408 (0-201-48340-8)
Softcover, Perseus Books Group
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'Out of Control: The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems and the Economic World'Book summary:In many ways, the 20th century has been the Age of Physics. Out of Control is an accessible and entertaining explanation of why the coming years will probably be the Age of Biology -- particularly evolution and ethology -- and what this will mean to most every aspect of our society. Kelly is an enthusiastic and well-informed guide who explains the promises and implications of this rapidly evolving revolution very well. [via]
More editions of Out of Control: The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems and the Economic World:
Out of Control: The Rise of Neo-Biological Civilizationby Kevin KellyISBN 0201577933 (0-201-57793-3)
Hardcover, Perseus Books Group
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'Out of Control: The Rise of Neo-Biological Civilization'More editions of Out of Control: The Rise of Neo-Biological Civilization:
-
The Quark and the Jaguar : Adventures in the Simple and the Complexby Murray Gell-MannISBN 0716725819 (0-7167-2581-9)
Hardcover, Freeman & Company, W. H.
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'The Quark and the Jaguar : Adventures in the Simple and the Complex'Book summary:A Nobel Prize-winning physicist discusses the science of simplicity and complexity, describing the intricate interrelationships that exist in nature between the simple (a quark in an atom) and the complex (the jaguar prowling its jungle environment). 25,000 first printing. [via]
More editions of The Quark and the Jaguar : Adventures in the Simple and the Complex:
-
The Quark and the Jaguar: The Quark and the Jaguarby Murray Gell-MannISBN 0805072535 (0-8050-7253-5)
Softcover, Henry Holt & Co
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'The Quark and the Jaguar: The Quark and the Jaguar'Book summary:From one of the architects of the new science of simplicity and complexity comes an explanation of the connections between nature at its most basic level and natural selection, archaeology, linguistics, child development, computers, and other complex adaptive systems. Nobel laureate Murray Gell-Mann offers a uniquely personal and unifying vision of the relationship between the fundamental laws of physics and the complexity and diversity of the natural world.[via]More editions of The Quark and the Jaguar: The Quark and the Jaguar:
-
Recursive Universe: Cosmic Complexity and the Limits of Scientific Knowledgeby William PoundstoneISBN 0809252023 (0-8092-5202-3)
Softcover, McGraw-Hill
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'Recursive Universe: Cosmic Complexity and the Limits of Scientific Knowledge'Book summary:Recommended as a very good, basic introduction to information and communication theory. [via]
More editions of Recursive Universe: Cosmic Complexity and the Limits of Scientific Knowledge:
The Sciences of the Artificialby Herbert A. SimonISBN 0262691914 (0-262-69191-4)
Softcover, Mit Pr
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'The Sciences of the Artificial'Book summary:Continuing his exploration of the organization of complexity and the science of design, this new edition of Herbert Simon's classic work on artificial intelligence adds a chapter that sorts out the current themes and tools -- chaos, adaptive systems, genetic algorithms -- for analyzing complexity and complex systems.There are updates throughout the book as well. These take into account important advances in cognitive psychology and the science of design while confirming and extending the book's basic thesis: that a physical symbol system has the necessary and sufficient means for intelligent action. The chapter "Economic Reality" has also been revised to reflect a change in emphasis in Simon's thinking about the respective roles of organizations and markets in economic systems.
[via]More editions of The Sciences of the Artificial:
- The Sciences of the Artificial: ISBN 0262193744 (0-262-19374-4)
Hardcover, Mit Pr - The Sciences of the Artificial: ISBN 026269073X (0-262-69073-X)
Softcover, Mit Pr - The Sciences of the Artificial: ISBN 0262191938 (0-262-19193-8)
Hardcover, MIT Press - The Sciences of the Artificial: ISBN 0262691914 (0-262-69191-4)
Softcover, Mit Pr
- The Sciences of the Artificial: ISBN 0262193744 (0-262-19374-4)
-
Signs of Life: How Complexity Pervades Biologyby Brian C. Goodwin, Ricard V. SoleISBN 0465019285 (0-465-01928-5)
Softcover, Perseus Books Group
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'Signs of Life: How Complexity Pervades Biology'Book summary:Deep down, we all know that living things are profoundly weird. Santa Fe Institute scientists Ricard Solé and Brian Goodwin show us the truth in Signs of Life: How Complexity Pervades Biology. Chaos theory and the life sciences are a natural combination, but it's still a wonder how fresh and intuitive the material is in their able hands. Copiously illustrated with drawings, tables, and photographs enriching the text, the book will appeal to all sophisticated readers with an interest in the larger themes of biology--major players such as evolution, development, and inheritance. The authors have carefully segregated the toughest math in sidebars, but the main body of text is still not for the faint-hearted. Chaos and complexity is innately math-heavy, and hard-core mathphobes will have to make do with skimming; still, even the innumerate will find the prose charming and engaging:
The idea that a random event can change history has been a great source of inspiration for both scientists and writers alike. We live in a universe with strong laws and much contingency. In our search for the laws of complexity we often find islands of randomness in an ocean of regularity, like the island of trickery, home of games and gambling, found by the travelers in Gargantua and Pantagruel.
With writing like this interleaved between the tables and formulas, the reader finds it easier to stay on track, and the rewards of improved understanding are exquisite. Solé and Goodwin nimbly present a necessarily complex subject to a wide audience; Signs of Life ought to become a classic among the scientifically literate. --Rob Lightner [via]
More editions of Signs of Life: How Complexity Pervades Biology:
-
Six Degrees: The Science of a Connected Ageby Duncan J. WattsISBN 0393325423 (0-393-32542-3)
Softcover, W W Norton & Co Inc
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'Six Degrees: The Science of a Connected Age'Book summary:You may be only six degrees away from Kevin Bacon, but would he let you borrow his car? It depends on the structures within the network that links you. When the power goes out, when we find that a stranger knows someone we know, when dot-com stocks soar in price, networks are evident. In Six Degrees, sociologist Duncan Watts examines networks like these: what they are, how they're being studied, and what we can use them for. To illustrate the often complicated mathematics that describe such structures, Watts uses plenty of examples from life, without which this book would quickly move beyond a general science readership. Small chapters make each thought-provoking conclusion easy to swallow, though some are hard to digest. For instance, in a short bit on "coercive externalities," Watts sums up sociological research showing that:
"Conversations concerning politics displayed a consistent pattern .... On election day, the strongest predictor of electoral success was not which party an individual privately supported but which party he or she expected would win."
Six Degrees attempts to help readers understand the new and exciting field of networks and complexity. While considerably more demanding than a general book like The Tipping Point, it offers readers a snapshot of a riveting moment in science, when understanding things like disease epidemics and the stock market seems almost within our reach. --Therese Littleton [via]More editions of Six Degrees: The Science of a Connected Age:
-
Steps to an Ecology of Mind: Collected Essays in Anthropology, Psychiatry, Evolution, and Epistemologyby Gregory BatesonISBN 0876689500 (0-87668-950-0)
Hardcover, Rowman & Littlefield Pub Inc
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'Steps to an Ecology of Mind: Collected Essays in Anthropology, Psychiatry, Evolution, and Epistemology'Book summary:Gregory Bateson was a philosopher, anthropologist, photographer, naturalist, and poet, as well as the husband and collaborator of Margaret Mead. With a new foreword by his daughter Mary Katherine Bateson, this classic anthology of his major work will continue to delight and inform generations of readers.[via]
"This collection amounts to a retrospective exhibition of a working life. . . . Bateson has come to this position during a career that carried him not only into anthropology, for which he was first trained, but into psychiatry, genetics, and communication theory. . . . He . . . examines the nature of the mind, seeing it not as a nebulous something, somehow lodged somewhere in the body of each man, but as a network of interactions relating the individual with his society and his species and with the universe at large."D. W. Harding, New York Review of Books
"[Bateson's] view of the world, of science, of culture, and of man is vast and challenging. His efforts at synthesis are tantalizingly and cryptically suggestive. . . .This is a book we should all read and ponder."Roger Keesing, American AnthropologistMore editions of Steps to an Ecology of Mind: Collected Essays in Anthropology, Psychiatry, Evolution, and Epistemology:
Sync: How Order Emerges from Chaos in the Universe, Nature, and Daily Lifeby Steven StrogatzISBN 0786887214 (0-7868-8721-4)
Softcover, Hyperion Books
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'Sync: How Order Emerges from Chaos in the Universe, Nature, and Daily Life'More editions of Sync: How Order Emerges from Chaos in the Universe, Nature, and Daily Life:
-
Sync: The Emerging Science of Spontaneous Orderby Steven StrogatzISBN 0786868449 (0-7868-6844-9)
Hardcover, Hyperion Books
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'Sync: The Emerging Science of Spontaneous Order'Book summary:t the heart of the universe is a steady, insistent beat, the sound of cycles in sync. Along the tidal rivers of Malaysia, thousands of fireflies congregate and flash in unison; the moon spins in perfect resonance with its orbit around the earth; our hearts depend on the synchronous firing of ten thousand pacemaker cells. While the forces that synchronize the flashing of fireflies may seem to have nothing to do with our heart cells, there is in fact a deep connection. Synchrony is a science in its infancy, and Strogatz is a pioneer in this new frontier in which mathematicians and physicists attempt to pinpoint just how spontaneous order emerges from chaos. From underground caves in Texas where a French scientist spent six months alone tracking his sleep-wake cycle, to the home of a Dutch physicist who in 1665 discovered two of his pendulum clocks swinging in perfect time, this fascinating book spans disciplines, continents, and centuries. Engagingly written for readers of books such as Chaos and The Elegant Universe, Sync is a tour-de-force of nonfiction writing. [via]
More editions of Sync: The Emerging Science of Spontaneous Order:
-
A Thousand Years of Nonlinear Historyby Manuel De LandaISBN 0942299329 (0-942299-32-9)
Softcover, Zone Books
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'A Thousand Years of Nonlinear History'Book summary:Following in the wake of his groundbreaking War in the Age of Intelligent Machines, Manuel De Landa presents a radical synthesis of historical development over the last one thousand years. More than a simple expository history, A Thousand Years of Nonlinear History sketches the outlines of a renewed materialist philosophy of history in the tradition of Fernand Braudel, Gilles Deleuze, and Félix Guattari, while also engaging the critical new understanding of material processes derived from the sciences of dynamics. Working against prevailing attitudes that see history as an arena of texts, discourses, ideologies, and metaphors, De Landa traces the concrete movements and interplays of matter and energy through human populations in the last millennium.De Landa attacks three domains that have given shape to human societies: economics, biology, and linguistics. In every case, what one sees is the self-directed processes of matter and energy interacting with the whim and will of human history itself to form a panoramic vision of the West free of rigid teleology and naive notions of progress, and even more important, free of any deterministic source of its urban, institutional, and technological forms. Rather, the source of all concrete forms in the West's history are shown to derive from internal morphogenetic capabilities that lie within the flow of matter-energy itself.
[via]More editions of A Thousand Years of Nonlinear History:
Turtles, Termites, and Traffic Jams: Explorations in Massively Parallel Microworldsby Mitchel ResnickISBN 0262680939 (0-262-68093-9)
Softcover, Bradford Books
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'Turtles, Termites, and Traffic Jams: Explorations in Massively Parallel Microworlds'More editions of Turtles, Termites, and Traffic Jams: Explorations in Massively Parallel Microworlds:
-
Ubiquity: The Science of History... or Why the World Is Simpler Than We Thinkby Mark BuchananISBN 0297643762 (0-297-64376-2)
Hardcover, Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'Ubiquity: The Science of History . . . or Why the World Is Simpler Than We Think'Book summary:Scientists have recently discovered a new law of nature. Its footprints are virtually everywhere - in the spread of forest fires, mass extinctions, traffic jams, earthquakes, stock-market fluctuations, the rise and fall of nations, and even trends in fashion, music and art. Wherever we look, the world is modelled on a simple template: like a steep pile of sand, it is poised on the brink of instability, with avalanches - in events, ideas or whatever - following a universal pattern of change. This remarkable discovery heralds what Mark Buchanan calls the new science of 'ubiquity', a science whose secret lies in the stuff of the everyday world. Combining literary flair with scientific rigour, this enthralling book documents the coming revolution by telling the story of the researchers' exploration of the law, their ingenious work and unexpected insights. Mark Buchanan reveals how the principle of ubiquity will help us to manage, control and predict the future. More controversially, he claims that it may well contain the beginnings of a mathematics of cultural and historical change. Every decade sees a major scientific breakthrough that has implications that go way beyond science. 'Ubiquity' is one of them. This book, the world's first on the topic, will change how we think about the world and our place in it. Chaos Disorder from order. Complexity Complexity from simplicity. UBIQUITY World has a natural 'rhythm': there is a mysterious archetypal organisation that works in the world at all levels and which gives rise to a universal pattern of change - in groups of people, things or ideas. [via]
More editions of Ubiquity: The Science of History... or Why the World Is Simpler Than We Think:
-
Ubiquity: Why Catastrophes Happenby Mark BuchananISBN 0609809989 (0-609-80998-9)
Softcover, Random House Inc
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'Ubiquity: Why Catastrophes Happen'Book summary:Why do catastrophes happen? What sets off earthquakes, for example? What about mass extinctions of species? The outbreak of major wars? Massive traffic jams that seem to appear out of nowhere? Why does the stock market periodically suffer dramatic crashes? Why do some forest fires become superheated infernos that rage totally out of control?
Experts have never been able to explain the causes of any of these disasters. Now scientists have discovered that these seemingly unrelated cataclysms, both natural and human, almost certainly all happen for one fundamental reason. More than that, there is not and never will be any way to predict them.
Critically acclaimed science journalist Mark Buchanan tells the fascinating story of the discovery that there is a natural structure of instability woven into the fabric of our world. From humble beginnings studying the physics of sandpiles, scientists have learned that an astonishing range of thingsEarths crust, cars on a highway, the market for stocks, and the tightly woven networks of human societyhave a natural tendency to organize themselves into whats called the critical state, in which they are poised on what Buchanan describes as the knife-edge of instability. The more places scientists have looked for the critical state, the more places theyve found it, and some believe that the pervasiveness of instability must now be seen as a fundamental feature of our world.
Ubiquity is packed with stories of real-life catastrophes, such as the huge earthquake that in 1995 hit Kobe, Japan, killing 5,000 people; the forest fires that ravaged Yellowstone National Park in 1988; the stock market crash of 1987; the mass extinction that killed off the dinosaurs; and the outbreak of World War I. Combining literary flair with scientific rigor, Buchanan introduces the researchers who have pieced together the evidence of the critical state, explaining their ingenious work and unexpected insights in beautifully lucid prose.
At the dawn of this new century, Buchanan reveals, we are witnessing the emergence of an extraordinarily powerful new field of science that will help us comprehend the bewildering and unruly rhythms that dominate our lives and may even lead to a true science of the dynamics of human culture and history.
From the Hardcover edition. [via]More editions of Ubiquity: Why Catastrophes Happen:
-
The Web of Life: A New Understanding of Living Systemsby Fritjof CapraISBN 0385476760 (0-385-47676-0)
Softcover, Random House Inc
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'The Web of Life: A New Understanding of Living Systems'Book summary:The vitality and accessibility of Fritjof Capra's ideas have made him perhaps the most eloquent spokesperson of the latest findings emerging at the frontiers of scientific, social, and philosophical thought. In his international bestsellers The Tao of Physics and The Turning Point, he juxtaposed physics and mysticism to define a new vision of reality. In The Web of Life, Capra takes yet another giant step, setting forth a new scientific language to describe interrelationships and interdependence of psychological, biological, physical, social, and cultural phenomena--the "web of life."
During the past twenty-five years, scientists have challenged conventional views of evolution and the organization of living systems and have developed new theories with revolutionary philosophical and social implications. Fritjof Capra has been at the forefront of this revolution. In The Web of Life, Capra offers a brilliant synthesis of such recent scientific breakthroughs as the theory of complexity, Gaia theory, chaos theory, and other explanations of the properties of organisms, social systems, and ecosystems. Capra's surprising findings stand in stark contrast to accepted paradigms of mechanism and Darwinism and provide an extraordinary new foundation for ecological policies that will allow us to build and sustain communities without diminishing the opportunities for future generations.
Now available in paperback for the first time, The Web of Life is cutting-edge science writing in the tradition of James Gleick's Chaos, Gregory Bateson's Mind and Matter, and Ilya Prigogine's Order Out of Chaos.
From the Trade Paperback edition. [via]More editions of The Web of Life: A New Understanding of Living Systems:
-
What the World Needs Nowby Steven JohnsonISBN 1580083099 (1-58008-309-9)
Softcover, Ten Speed Pr
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'What the World Needs Now'Book summary:Ever wanted a chair that converts into a rowing machine? Sunglasses that serve as a wallet? A car with a sundeck so you can work on your tan on those long road trips? Well, inventor and illustrator Steven Johnson has designed these marvels and many, many more, spurred on by a truly insatiable imagination. His wacky, wonderful concepts could very well change the world-that is, if someone was ever bold enough to build them. From clothing to dining technology, home furnishings to appliances, and gardening gadgets to survival gear, WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS NOW is a sourcebook of revolutionary designs that prove how far our techno-culture has yet to go. Ä¢ Includes a three-step plan for inventing useful and useless things. [via]
More editions of What the World Needs Now:
-
The Wisdom Of Crowdsby James Surowiecki, Surowiecki, James (AFT)ISBN 0385721706 (0-385-72170-6)
Softcover, Anchor Books
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'The Wisdom Of Crowds'Book summary:In this fascinating book, New Yorker business columnist James Surowiecki explores a deceptively simple idea: Large groups of people are smarter than an elite few, no matter how brilliantbetter at solving problems, fostering innovation, coming to wise decisions, even predicting the future.
With boundless erudition and in delightfully clear prose, Surowiecki ranges across fields as diverse as popular culture, psychology, ant biology, behavioral economics, artificial intelligence, military history, and politics to show how this simple idea offers important lessons for how we live our lives, select our leaders, run our companies, and think about our world. [via]More editions of The Wisdom Of Crowds:
-
The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business,Economies, Societies and Nationsby James SurowieckiISBN 0385503865 (0-385-50386-5)
Hardcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business,Economies, Societies and Nations'Book summary:No one in this world, so far as I know, has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people. H. L. Mencken
[via]
H. L. Mencken was wrong.
In this endlessly fascinating book, New Yorker columnist James Surowiecki explores a deceptively simple idea that has profound implications: large groups of people are smarter than an elite few, no matter how brilliantbetter at solving problems, fostering innovation, coming to wise decisions, even predicting the future.
This seemingly counterintuitive notion has endless and major ramifications for how businesses operate, how knowledge is advanced, how economies are (or should be) organized and how we live our daily lives. With seemingly boundless erudition and in delightfully clear prose, Surowiecki ranges across fields as diverse as popular culture, psychology, ant biology, economic behaviorism, artificial intelligence, military history and political theory to show just how this principle operates in the real world.
Despite the sophistication of his arguments, Surowiecki presents them in a wonderfully entertaining manner. The examples he uses are all down-to-earth, surprising, and fun to ponder. Why is the line in which youre standing always the longest? Why is it that you can buy a screw anywhere in the world and it will fit a bolt bought ten-thousand miles away? Why is network television so awful? If you had to meet someone in Paris on a specific day but had no way of contacting them, when and where would you meet? Why are there traffic jams? Whats the best way to win money on a game show? Why, when you walk into a convenience store at 2:00 A.M. to buy a quart of orange juice, is it there waiting for you? What do Hollywood mafia movies have to teach us about why corporations exist?
The Wisdom of Crowds is a brilliant but accessible biography of an idea, one with important lessons for how we live our lives, select our leaders, conduct our business, and think about our world.More editions of The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business,Economies, Societies and Nations:
- The Wisdom of Crowds : Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations: ISBN 0375433627 (0-375-43362-7)
Hardcover, Random House Large Print - The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business,Economies, Societies and Nations: ISBN 0385503865 (0-385-50386-5)
Hardcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group
- The Wisdom of Crowds : Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations: ISBN 0375433627 (0-375-43362-7)
Spanish
-
La economia Long Tail/ The Long Tail: De Los Mercados De Masas Al Triunfo De Lo Minoritario/ Why The Future of Business Is Selling Less of Moreby Chris AndersonISBN 8493464260 (84-934642-6-0)
Softcover, Urano
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'La economia Long Tail/ The Long Tail: De Los Mercados De Masas Al Triunfo De Lo Minoritario/ Why The Future of Business Is Selling Less of More'More editions of La economia Long Tail/ The Long Tail: De Los Mercados De Masas Al Triunfo De Lo Minoritario/ Why The Future of Business Is Selling Less of More:
-
Gdel, Escher, Bachby D.R. HofstadterISBN 8472234592 (84-7223-459-2)
Softcover, Tusquets Editor
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'Gdel, Escher, Bach'Book summary:¿Puede un sistema comprenderse a sí mismo ? Si esta pregunta se refiere a la mente humana, entonces nos encontramos ante una cuestión clave del pensamiento científico. Y de la filosofía. Y del arte. Investigar este misterio es una aventura que recorre la matemática, la física, la biología, la psicología y, muy especialmente, el lenguaje. Douglas R. Hofstadter, joven y ya célebre científico, nos abre la puerta del enigma con la belleza y la alegría creadora de su estilo. Sorprendentes paralelismos ocultos entre los grabados de Escher y la música de Bach nos remiten a las paradojas clásicas de los antiguos griegos y a un teorema de la lógica matemática moderna que ha estremecido el pensamiento del siglo XX : el de Kurt Gödel. Todo lenguaje, todo sistema formal, todo programa de ordenador, todo proceso de pensamiento, llegan, tarde o temprano, a la situación límite de la autorreferencia : de querer expresarse sobre sí mismos. Surge entonces la emoción del infinito, como dos espejos enfrentados y obligados a reflejarse mutua e indefinidamente. Gödel, Escher, Bach: un Eterno y Grácil Bucle, es una obra de arte escrita por un sabio. Versa sobre los misterios del pensamiento e incluye, ella misma, sus propios misterios. / Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, this book applies Godel's seminal contribution to modern Twenty years after it topped the bestseller charts, Douglas R. Hofstadter's Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid is still something of a marvel. Besides being a profound and entertaining meditation on human thought and creativity, this book looks at the surprising points of contact between the music of Bach, the artwork of Escher, and the mathematics of Gödel.mathematics to the study of the human mind and the development of artificial intelligence. [via]
More editions of Gdel, Escher, Bach:
![[powered by Muze Inc.]](http://i.bookfinder.com/images/site/muze/powered_by_muze.gif){kind=small}