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SYNC: How Order Emerges From Chaos In the Universe, Nature, and Daily Life | |||||||
 
| 80% Recommended by our customers. Publisher: Hyperion Catalog: Book Release date: 2004-04-14 Media: Paperback Number of pages: 352 Ean: 9780786887217 Book Isbn: 0786887214  Tip: compare prices with similar booksAuthor:
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The tendency to synchronize may be the most mysterious and pervasive drive in all of nature. It has intrigued some of the most brilliant minds of the 20th century, including Albert Einstein, Richard Feynman, Norbert Wiener, Brian Josephson, and Arthur Winfree. At once elegant and riveting, Sync tells the story of the dawn of a new science. Steven Strogatz, a leading mathematician in the fields of chaos and complexity theory, explains how enormous systems can synchronize themselves, from the electrons in a superconductor to the pacemaker cells in our hearts. He shows that although these phenomena might seem unrelated on the surface, at a deeper level there is a connection, forged by the unifying power of mathematics. |
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Written on September 26, 2005 Summary: An entertaining and personal look at "how science gets done" I think that one aspect that was not sufficiently appreciated by other reviewers is that the book tries to give a personal account of how "science gets done". If you are thinking of becoming a scientist (i.e., you are in grade school and are not sure where to go), the book would probably convince you to try to become a scientist. It's definitely good for your brain. It might be good for the human kind. On the other hand, you might not get so lucky as Steven Strogatz with the choice of subject, mentors, and peers. So, I wish he had described "the other sides" of his profession too. Otherwise, this is a great starting point in many directions.  Written on June 22, 2005 Summary: FROM FIREFLIES TO THE INTERNET There are three types of science books. First are monographs, written by scientists for their peers, larded with jargon, and incomprehensible to the general public. Second are books by professional science writers, which read like Tuesday's New York Times - glib and flashy but unreliable because the authors depend on interviews of a necessarily small number of scientists. Finally are those few books by scientists who both know the subject and are able to write. Scientifically reliable and well written, Steven Strogatz's "Synch: How Order Emerges from Chaos in the Universe, Nature, and Daily Life" is in the last category. Inspired by and dedicated to the late Art Winfree - a biologist who had more intuition than most mathematicians - Strogatz gets the excitement of discovering a new field and of learning to do research down onto the page. In three well-constructed sections, comprising three or four chapters each, the author leads his readers on a grand tour of his research in nonlinear science over the past two decades, from observations of Indonesian fireflies flashing in time with each other, through brain waves, circadian rhythms, coupled pendula, and quantum condensation (lasers, superconductors, and superfluids), to synchronized chaos and the internet. Throughout, helpful metaphors abound and mathematical equations are avoided, while many important ideas are skillfully introduced and the human side of doing science is artfully described. One factual error should be noted. In chapter seven, it is stated that in 1979 Edward Lorenz introduced the term "butterfly effect" to underscore the sensitive dependence on initial conditions of chaotic systems, whereas the true year was 1972. This error continues to propagate because science writer James Gleick made it in his popular book entitled "Chaos". It's important to get the year right because the 1970s were an amazing decade in which research in nonlinear science exploded from less than a dozen papers a year to more than a dozen a day. Rather than merely commenting on this historic explosion, Lorenz helped to ignite it. Alwyn Scott http://personal.riverusers.com/~rover/ Written on May 26, 2005 Summary: A compelling story about nonlinear science! SYNC emerges from nonlinear dynamics and complexity, from the mathematical world of differential equations and maps, spontaneously, naturally, beautifully. The book is a delightfully well-written story about the thrill of discovery, the thrill of knowing the mathematics that governs sleep cycles, mood swings, the flashing of fireflies, the rhythms and rhymes of heart muscles, the synchrony of brain cells leading to perception. The examples are well chosen, the allegories and metaphors are vastly helpful in making this book a good read to anyone with even a shard of interest in knowing about science, about world around us. For anyone who has ever taken a course in Nonlinear Dynamics and Chaos (and maybe studied that book written by same author), this is a must read! If you loved Chaos by Gleick, this one will surely appear to your fancy! Written on February 23, 2005 Summary: Scratching the surface of universal truth...... I'd have to disagree with one of the dust jacket reviewers who compared the author with Professor Steven Jay Gould. Sorry Steve, S.J. Gould you are not. The author is a very accomplished mathematician yet managed to produce this book without resorting to the arcane language of his field. How is this so? I've been told by many engineers ( IEEE members I might add but not anyone who has written 3500 articles ) that certain concepts, relationships, and facts simply cannot be expressed in mere words. Math is required they say-their language is required. Of course, most of these people, unlike Steve Strogatz who has an excellent command of English , have a VERY limited command of any language other than mathematics. Therefore, I wonder to what extent the author would agree that one can never fully comprehend the topic using such a limited language as English. In other words what are those of us who don't speak the language of highly advanced mathematics missing? Or...are we missing anything? The author does an exceptional job of describing his ideas in the English language and for this I thank him. I note that, unlike the extraordinary once in a generation scientist Gould, Strogatz apparently could not remove himself from his/our immediate cultural/political setting to a sufficient degree to avoid mentioning bogus politico-science in the same sentence with actual fact. He includes global warming right along with the origin of life and finding a cure for cancer as examples of great mysteries awaiting solution by the science of sync. He should have included it instead in his discussion of "fads". I'd suggest if he considers global warming a proven scientific fact then his list should also include "scientific creationism". The final chapter discusses the origin of "fads" in human societies and how/why they develop and are accepted so rapidly. He should apply this logical analysis to the phenom of "global warming". After reading such an excellent book as this I was disappointed when the author jumped on the bandwagon of contemporary political/scientific orthodoxy in his apparent acceptance of the pseudoscience of global warming. He, of all people, should understand the hubris involved in believing that we can even begin to understand the complex nonlinear system of global climate well enough to predict global warming on the basis of the very limited and tainted data that is offered as "proof" by those many scientists eager for grant funding to develop additional validation of the "theory". Oh well, the author is only human like all of us. For a break from his demanding job of theoretical thinking the author might read a new novel "State of Fear". He should pay particular attention to the factual footnotes and the high degree to which the author has incorporated the truths of Chaos/Complexity theory into his writing. Steve, you have a few important things to learn from Michael. I think the two of you are intellectual equals. Written on February 23, 2005 Summary: Educational and Entertaining Sync is one of the most enthralling scientific books I've ever read. As a mathematician, I enjoyed seeing some actual science and cited references rather than just vague generalities. At the same time, the book is very easy to follow through a wide array of subjects. There are parts where you might want to just scratch your head and move on (unless you have an intuition for quantum mechanics), but it would be difficult not to find a lot to like in this book. I was especially interested to learn about the human sleep/wake cycle, others may prefer fireflies blinking in unison, maybe you're more interested in learning where "six degrees of separation" really came from, or perhaps you'd like to know why the same side of the moon always faces the earth. This book is appropriate for motivated high school students through veteran scientists. |
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| Catalog | Book | Book | Book | Book | Book | Book |
| Release date | 2004-04-14 | 2003-04-29 | 2001-01-15 | 2002-08-27 | 2004-02 | 2003-06 |
| Media | Paperback | Paperback | Paperback | Paperback | Paperback | Paperback |
| Number of pages | 352 | 304 | 498 | 288 | 368 | 238 |
| Ean | 9780786887217 | 9780452284395 | 9780738204536 | 9780684868769 | 9780393325423 | 9780393324426 |
| Book Isbn | 0786887214 | 0452284392 | 0738204536 | 0684868768 | 0393325423 | 0393324427 |
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