Editorial Review

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. Read more

Reviews (79)

Greate Read and Interesting New Perspective on How things work in this Jungle
I got registered onto a few networking sites like Linkedin, Orkut and Hi5 in March and suddenly started thinking about term Network in social context. Being a computer engineer by profession and having worked on communication networks for last 5 years it was quite obvious to find parallels. And then I stuck upon this book. I must say i wasn't disapponted. Each Ideas has been built with convincing examples and is well supported by results from ongoing research being done by author. I would wait for him to write something on dissemination of information through social networks and network dynamics.

Highly Recommended for the Technical Practitioner
In an informal survey held in a recent webinar, over 50% of the (several hundred) participants ranked "Word-of-Mouth" as the most typical source for leads that convert to paying customers. Interesting...!
Excellent -Applicable to SOA Networks
I have been involved in telecommunications networking for years, and recently started up a "community of interest" web site around SOA Networks.
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Subjects:  1. Chaotic Behavior in Systems    2. Computer networks    3. General    4. Mechanics - Dynamics - General    5. Miscellanea    6. Organizational Behavior    7. Philosophy    8. Science    9. Science/Mathematics    10. System theory    11. Business & Economics / Industries / Computer Industry   

Editorial Review

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 Read more

Reviews (97)

Great book
I think it's weird how other readers have given this book a low rating because Gleick writes about the scientists involved in chaos theory and doesn't include enough math.The subtitle is "Making a New Science" so I don't know what they expected.I read this many years ago and found it a fascinating read.I really enjoyed it, and reading it whetted my curiosity to learn more -- not a bad thing!

Appetizer
This not a textbook for math or science majors looking to learn the subject - they won't.This is not a book for artists and philosophers wanting to extrapolate chaos theory into some grand world view re-ordering the socio-political order.Gleick doesn't go there.
Chaos by James Gleick
Chaos is a book about modern trends in physics; it is about the people and the history of a completely new trend in thinking about physical systems. In this fascinating book James Gleick does a very good job of integrating our knowledge about `randomness', `fractals', and of course `chaos'. The book is written in an engaging style that can appeal to everybody that is interested in our physical world and the people that is creating new ideas and insights into what we know about it. We all should know something about this new phenomenon because it is going to shape our understanding of the world around us in the future. Chaos theory is having an impact on medicine, weather forecasting, and just about anything you can think about. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Chaotic Behavior in Systems    2. Dynamics    3. Mathematics    4. Physics    5. Science/Mathematics    6. Science / Physics   

Editorial Review

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 Read more

Reviews (76)

Go To the Ant Thou Sluggard!
Uncommon insights into the origin and development of important things. The author shows us how there are lessons all around us if we are clever enough to be watching when they reveal themselves! Shows us that there are patterns in nature and in the human experience that, when uncovered and examined, can prove to be templates for success in our lives.

Provides a decent primer to an increasingly important concept
I liked this book.It provides a decent overview of emergent properties in general, and particularly the notion of "intelligence" as an emergent property (e.g., one ant is dumb, many ants togther are smart).
Exciting and provoking
I was stunned to see so many critical reviews of this book here.Even more stunned by the criticisms.This is not a scientific treatise, and never pretends to be.This is not an introduction into the more abstract and obscure aspects of Emergence, nor is it a dry and tedious mathematical paper.
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Subjects:  1. Environmental Engineering & Technology    2. Information Theory    3. Science    4. Science/Mathematics    5. Sociology - Urban    6. System Theory    7. Science / System Theory   

Subjects:  1. Chaotic Behavior in Systems    2. Computer Simulation    3. Computers    4. Engineering - Electrical & Electronic    5. SIMULINK    6. Science/Mathematics    7. Technology & Industrial Arts    8. Automatic control engineering    9. Computer Software Packages    10. Computer modelling & simulation    11. Electrical engineering    12. Technology / Engineering / Electrical   

Reviews (1)

Real, practical studies of self-organization in biology
Many books containing theory upon theory about self-organization in the biosphere have appeared in recent years. This book could be an important catalyst towards putting more of these theories to the test. While it has long been recognized that self-organization could be important in biological systems, many of these studies are computational models only. Many are very convincing, but unless steps are taken towards verifying these models and scrutinizing their validity, it is very difficult to know whether the theories have any real value towards understanding real life.Read more

Subjects:  1. Life Sciences - Biology - General    2. Science    3. Science/Mathematics    4. System Theory    5. Biological Sciences    6. Cognitive Science    7. Ecological science, the Biosphere    8. Science / Biology   

Reviews (3)

Complexity science explained to the masses!
As an innovation matures, it moves from one characteristic group of adopters to another.The topics of complexity and nonlinear dynamics were initially adopted by people who were considered "outliers" by their peer group, "freaks".Such innovators are comfortable spanning across disciplinary boundaries to learn how something works.The successful diffusion of the innovation does not occur however until the innovators hand over the ideas to the change agents in the system--those individuals who are creative enough to listen to the innovators, and yet respected and legitimized enough within the system to steer collective opinion.Today complexity and nonlinear dynamics have reached that level of diffusion, and in such instances "implementation" becomes of utmost important, and such discussion of implementation is necessarily domain-specific. from Dan Beckham, contributing editor of Healthcare Forum
Peter Drucker once described healthcare as the most complex of all business enterprises. So perhaps it's appropriate that the best book on the emerging science of COMPLEXITY should come out of healthcare. EDGEWARE willprove useful to managers in all industries. The book contains a primer oncomplexity, a set of unifying principles, practical applications, a richbibliography, glossary and web site guide making it, page-for-page, themost valuable book to date on complexity and management.

At last. Authors who reveal the clarity in complexity.
As a journalist and business author myself, I've read virtually every book seeking to apply complexity science to strategy, work, and economics. None, I assure you, comes close to EDGEWARE in terms of sheer clarity and utility. Though solid on the theory of complexity, this book's real breakthrough in its tremendous practicality for leaders. The pages are brimming with case after case--episodes of complexity in action that inspire as well as inform. For leaders (in hospitals and anywhere else) who ask, "What do I do on Monday morning?" EDGEWARE provides literally dozens of suggestions.Read more

Subjects:  1. Medical    2. Science / Chaotic Behavior in Systems    3. Chaotic behavior in systems    4. Complexity (Philosophy)    5. Medical care    6. Medical personnel    7. Philosophy    8. Philosophy Of Science    9. Science   

Reviews (14)

Great Book About the Universe
This is a book about the history of the universe and the physical laws governing it. It also tells the story of the scientists whose work brought modern physics to the point where it is today.
Not what I expected
I considered this book because of two main reasons: trying to get a deeper knowldege of the symmetries that are behind the main scientific theories, and Leon Lederman, its well-known author. After reading the book, I can say that I have not learnt almost anything new about Symmetry. Actually, I have read other physics books that have taught me much more on Symmetry, even if they did not focus on it.
A superb book on modern physics
Wow.This is some book.Unlike many books that describe the evolution of modern cosmological theory, this one is dedicated to the understanding of physics itself, both its history and it's collation of knowledge about reality.
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Subjects:  1. General    2. Popular works    3. Science    4. Science/Mathematics    5. Symmetry    6. System Theory    7. Cosmology & the universe    8. Particle & high-energy physics   

Reviews (1)

Introduction to discrete event systems
This book is a great textbook for students who are interested in the control engineering field.Due to the difficulty, it is more focused for graduate students.This book has won the 1999 harold chestnut prizeawarded by the International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC). Thetopics are language and automata theory, supervisory control, Petri nettheory, (max,+) algebra, Markov chains and queueing theory, discrete-eventsimulation, perturbation analysis, and concurrent estimation techniques.This book is used in many universities in the US but also in countries likeKorea as well. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Science    2. Computers    3. Discrete Mathematics (Computer Science)    4. Discrete-time systems    5. Engineering - Electrical & Electronic    6. General    7. Operations Research    8. Operations Research (Engineering)    9. Programming - Systems Analysis & Design    10. Science    11. Science/Mathematics    12. System Theory    13. System analysis    14. Cybernetics & systems theory    15. Mathematics    16. Mathematics / Discrete Mathematics   

Reviews (1)

A great review of network reconstructions
While this may not be an all encompassing review of what systems biology is, it provides an insightful view on network reconstruction. I've found this book very helpful and well written (being a first edition, it does have a few typos, but this is normal). It has a very logical flow, but it is written on the level of a professional or graduate student interested in entering the field of systems biology. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Bioinformatics    2. Computational biology    3. Genomics    4. Life Sciences - Biology - General    5. Research & Methodology    6. Science    7. Science/Mathematics    8. System Theory    9. Biology, Life Sciences    10. Science / Genetics   

Reviews (46)

Fascinating!
Simply an awesome book. Even if this is not even close to your area of interest, you should read it, just for the hell of it, as it is aimed for the public in general. Of course dependig on your study area, some parts get a little tricky and some, a little too obvious, but that's inevitable in any book of this kind.
Nearly a Great Introduction to Sync
This is a fun narrative about sync by one of the leading mathematicians in the field. Steven Strogatz combines practical discoveries and personal antidotes as he conveys his own excitement about this emerging new area of science and theoretical physics. It is easy to see why he received MIT's highest teaching prize. Strogatz previously contributed to groundbreaking developments in chaos and complexity theory, the predecessors to Sync, and has a much more broad understanding of the topic than you might get from someone writing from outside the field.
How lucid thinking and intelligent writing emerge from the chaos in science writing today
A fascinating and exciting story describing a heretofor underexamined aspect of the epochal cosmic struggle between order and chaos. It is common for scientists today to identify entropy - the tendency of complex systems to degrade into chaos - as the most fundamental experience of the universe. Dr. Strogatz, a widely recognized and accomplished quantum physicist, offers an engaging tale of how the reverse is also an enduringly profound characteristic of our world. From the subatomic arena of quantum mechanics to the incomprehensibly vast scales of the universe itself, nature has a built-in and persistent complusion to organize itself into complex systems that surpass the scope and capability of their components. The combat between entropy and synchrony is underway everywhere, at all levels, all around us.
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Subjects:  1. Life Sciences - Biology - General    2. Science    3. Science/Mathematics    4. Self-organizing systems    5. Synchronization    6. System Theory    7. Science / Molecular Biology    8. Chaos (Physics)    9. Chaos Theory (Mathematics)    10. Mathematical Physics   

Reviews (6)

Good as a refresher for the initiated, but not for beginners at all
This new explanation of phylogenetic methods contains a good discussion of the merits and potential failings of many of the methods currently used to study phylogenetics. It may be very good for computer science students, who have a better grasp of the mathematics. It may also be good for biologists well versed in biostatistics, who want to know why systematists use certain, less easily handled, analytical methods. However, it is very difficult reading for other scientists who do not fully understand the complex math presented in the text. It also does not give a concinct summary of the assumptions and failings of each method. The bottom line is that this book is good for experts who easily understand algorithms, but not good for students who don't have a good handle on such things.

very complete reference book
Inferring phylogenies was much anticipated by the large audience which has used Felsenstein's programs, and his website which reviews and categorizes applied tree building and population genetics programs.
not well written
This book, although apparently containing everything, is written in a very opaque style which makes it impossible to simply read through. It probably is a good reference to look in for particular topics, but it is not at all usable as an introduction. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Cladistic analysis    2. Life Sciences - Evolution    3. Mathematics    4. Science    5. Science/Mathematics    6. System Theory    7. Cybernetics & systems theory    8. Evolution   

Reviews (7)

Outstanding book
This book is excellent. I first read this book in graduate school in 1976, and I continue to find Weinberg's ideas useful. It was outstanding then, and it has held up with time.
not quite an alternative to 'Systems Thinking'
I was searching for an alternative to the out-of-print book 'Quality Software Management, vol.1: Systems Thinking', written by the same Author.
An excellent introduction...
Weinberg distills the essence from von Bertalanffy's classic and manages to present it in a very accessible fashion.The book has been out of print for quite a while so it is great to see a new edition.The message and information contained in here, although originally published in 1975, is now more relevant than ever.Read more

Subjects:  1. Business / Economics / Finance    2. Engineering - General    3. Leadership    4. Management Information Systems    5. Programming - Software Development    6. Science/Mathematics    7. System theory    8. Technology    9. Business & Management    10. Computer Software Packages   

Reviews (4)

Third edition is no better
I posted the unfavorable review of the second edition.I have recently had an opportunity to see the third edition, and find the same errors are still present.

an embarrassingly slapdash and sloppy book
There were a considerable number of errors in the first edition that I pointed out to the author shortly after its publication. The second edition seems to have corrected few if any of them.Let me cite two egregious examples. Good, but poor examples
If the purpose of using this book is to get a brief idea of what certain concepts are then it is a good book.Unfortunately, many people using this book are going to be those who do not have much background with theconcepts inside and they will be looking for clearer explanations of whatthe author is talking about.I think that is the book's weakness:thefact that many times I didn't feel that his definitions and explanationswere complete enough. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business / Economics / Finance    2. Econometrics    3. Forecasting    4. Probability & Statistics - General    5. Problems, exercises, etc    6. Science/Mathematics    7. Statistical methods    8. Economic forecasting   

Subjects:  1. Chemistry - General    2. Engineering - Chemical & Biochemical    3. Extrusion    4. Plastics    5. Science    6. Science/Mathematics    7. Spectroscopy & Spectrum Analysis    8. System Theory    9. Technology & Industrial Arts    10. Plastics & polymers technology   

Reviews (4)

learning to use STELLA on different problems
The book teaches the use of a modelling program called STELLA, that can be used to simulate the behaviour of dynamical systems. You can treat the text as an extended user's manual about the capabilities of STELLA. It appears to be an easy program to learn. Its user interface hides the gory details of coupled integro-differential equations that actually model the systems.
Dynamic Modeling, Second Edition
This is an excellent book for beginning and intermediate modelers. I found it to be engaging, practical, and easy to understand. Dynamic modeling has become an essential tool to facilitate understanding developments in our increasingly complex and interdependent world, to communicate ideas across disciplinary boundaries, and to help solve problems. This book is a great place to begin. It offers a hands-on introduction to dynamic modeling. Great blend of concept and practice
I have been involved in static data modeling as part of database design throughout my career, and because of that know very well that to really learn how to model, you have to do more than listen to lectures or read a text. This book, along with the accompanying STELLA modeling tool, is an excellent blend of concept and practice.Read more

Subjects:  1. Chaotic Behavior in Systems    2. Computer Engineering    3. Computer Simulation    4. Computers    5. Digital computer simulation    6. Dynamics    7. General    8. Research & Methodology    9. Science    10. Science/Mathematics    11. Biology, Life Sciences    12. Computer modelling & simulation    13. Computers / Computer Science   

Reviews (2)

A Complete Text for System Identification
This book is very through in presenting methods of system identification...mathematically.However as with most good mathematical oriented books there are not a lot of practical design type problems.One other mark aginst the book is that similar notation is used for different topics, which can sometimes be a bit confusing. One thing I might recommend, to a potential buyer is that you take a course in random process, and possess a through understanding of signals and transforms.All in all though if a little more meat in terms of practicality were added I'd rate this book a five.

excellent book
An excellent textbook for engineers, and a necessary reference for Matlab toolbox (System Identification). ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Advanced    2. Engineering - Electrical & Electronic    3. Mathematics    4. Science/Mathematics    5. System identification    6. Systems Analysis    7. Technology & Industrial Arts    8. Applications of Computing    9. Cybernetics & systems theory    10. Electronics & Communications Engineering    11. Technology / Engineering / Electrical   

Reviews (3)

Checkland's masterpiece
When I first read this book I thought it to be revolutionary, ahead of it's time (as others have) and insightful.Despite the fact that Checkland has in large moved away from the ideas and the model of this book - to me it represents the original vision of SSM (soft systems methodology) more so than his later books.Checkland presents a history of systems thinking in the book then goes onto to discuss the need for a new approach - that of SSM.With extreme elegance of style Checkland delivers a long and stinging critique to Hard Systems thinking and presents a coherent and thoughtful argument for his own version SSM.Further he creates a platform for real world problem solving that is useful and interesting.A lot of his ideas have appeared in American texts (like the fifth discipline for example) and rarely are they credited or made use of in that regard. This book is a good place to start exploring the real world of problems with but I would highly recommended that before you go to his two other books you start here.This in my opinion has not been bettered in any systems context to date and I am not sure it ever will or could be. Having said that you really do need to read it and find out for yourself.Be warned it's not for those who want to be challenged in their thinking - especially those of you who don't like the qualitative stuff.

Really worthwhile
This book is a gem. The basic concepts of systems, hierarchies and emergent properties are developed from the methodologies of physical and social sciences in chapter 3, and makes for fascinating reading. I'm currently writing a master's thesis on it! =) Where it all began...
Well, since I've been on a bit of a 'systems' binge lately, I might as well review this old gem...Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Decision Making & Problem Solving    5. Information Management    6. Information Technology    7. Management Information Systems    8. System theory    9. Systems And Analysis In Management    10. Applied mathematics    11. Management decision making    12. Science / System Theory   

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Reviews (6)

Excellent, but hard to understand
This book is that dangerous combination of being theoretical without being rigorous.It's very deep and subtle, and it is not unusual to ponder a particular point for several weeks, as no derivation or explanation is given. Many statements are just thrown out there for the reader to figure out for himself. I have now read the book more or less from cover to cover, and that's how it has been, but I have to say, in the end it is worth it. I now truly feel that I know a lot about linear systems. For a Complete State-Space Perspective
If you are an engineer with least span of attention, this book iscertainly not for you. But if you are somebody who likes things to be concise and profound, and takes thrill in riding through theoretical maze, only to wonder in the end at it's simplicity and completeness, you would love this. I would say, second chapter on State-Space theory is the core of the book. Helps you to look at systems from different view-points, elaborating on different proprerties a system can and should have, meanwhile relating one with the other, filling the reader with sheer joy by giving him a complete picture. Exhausting
This book is exhausting to read. A far better source to learn linear systems is _Linear System Theory and Design_ by Chi-Tsong Chen.Read more

Subjects:  1. Engineering - Electrical & Electronic    2. Linear systems    3. Science    4. Science/Mathematics    5. System Theory    6. System analysis    7. Technology    8. Systems analysis & design    9. Technology / Engineering / Electrical   

Subjects:  1. Attractors (Mathematics)    2. Chaos (Physics)    3. Chaotic Behavior in Systems    4. Physics    5. Science    6. Science/Mathematics    7. Topology    8. Topology - General    9. Chaos theory    10. Cybernetics & systems theory    11. Philosophy of mathematics    12. Science / Physics