Complexity: Life at the Edge of Chaos
- Book Review,
by Roger Lewin
From Publishers Weekly
Complexity, the nexus of theories forming at the edge of chaos theory and the boundaries of artificial life, may spark in life science a revolution equivalent to that wrought in physics by quantum mechanics. Anthropologist Lewin ( Bones of Contention ) provides an authoritative introduction to such pioneers on this mathematically demanding frontier as Stuart Kauffman, Jim Lovelock and Heinz Pagels; naming them is easier at this early juncture of complexity's development, when there are fewer than a dozen active researchers, than it will become as complexity attracts further peer reviews. In its embrace of "underlying simplicity in complex natural systems," complexity challenges aspects of Darwinian evolution and, as Lewin points out, comes close to the Gaia Hypothesis. This anecdotal introduction offers the general reader a generous sampling of this emergent theory. Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Complexity has its roots in the work of many scientists from several disciplines and has only very recently, with the establishment of an institute in Santa Fe dedicated to its study, begun to come into focus as an analytical theory. Lewin's book is written as a kind of scientific travelog; he goes from the San Juan Basin of New Mexico to rural southwest England to the rain forests of Costa Rica in order to interview some of the key figures of complexity, whose independent works have contributed to the development of what could become a unified theory of the life sciences. Whether studying cellular automata or the evolution of life on earth, these scientists have found that order naturally seems to emerge within dynamic systems, often from the very brink of chaos. Lewin's far-ranging treatment of the subject is quite different from that of Michael Waldrop's Complexity: The Emerging Science at the Edge of Order and Chaos ( LJ 11/1/92), which remains pretty much centered at the Sante Fe Institute. Of the two, Lewin offers the most vivid and engaging discussion of complexity for general readers.- Gregg Sapp, Montana State Univ. Libs., BozemanCopyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Book News, Inc.
Science-writer Lewin writes for the determined lay audience<-;- >those who want to grasp some of the excitement churning among biologists regarding complexity theory. Much of the material is presented through reporting of conversations with the principal researchers. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.
Book Description
"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
"[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.
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