<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: Fast Moving Dunes
Review: Patterns in the Sand is a racy introduction to a wide cross section of the ideas which comprise "Complexity Theory". Barely a stone in this ecclectic intellectual landscape is left unturned with examples drawn from mathematics, computation, genetics, ecology, and social dynamics to focus the reader on the relevance of systems approaches of understanding complex behaviour, and how even very simple everyday phenomena are rich with complex detail. The book is generally well written, with only the occaisional paragraph leaving the reader begging for relevance; though the pace of ideas is frenetic, sometimes moving through an entire chapter without two paragraphs on the same topic. The style is readily accessible but sufferes somewhat through lack of conclusive discussion. One gets the impression that the impact of the book could be improved by a more detailed development. Still, there is a wealth of material here, and it serves as an excellent introduction to the trandisciplinary nature of complexity theory and it's applications. I read the book in conjunction with a number of other, less popularly oriented works and found this combination brought the ideas in "Patterns..." to the fore. The strength of the book I felt was in sketching the relationships between a large number of ideas rather than in exploring any of the ideas per se. If you are looking for a mathematical treatment, or an in-depth discussion on the foundations of complexity, I'd recommend you shop elsewhere. But if you are looking for an intellectual brainstorm to cross-fertilise your own ideas on complexity, this may be the book for you.
Rating:
Summary: Fast Moving Dunes
Review: Patterns in the Sand is a racy introduction to a wide cross section of the ideas which comprise "Complexity Theory". Barely a stone in this ecclectic intellectual landscape is left unturned with examples drawn from mathematics, computation, genetics, ecology, and social dynamics to focus the reader on the relevance of systems approaches of understanding complex behaviour, and how even very simple everyday phenomena are rich with complex detail. The book is generally well written, with only the occaisional paragraph leaving the reader begging for relevance; though the pace of ideas is frenetic, sometimes moving through an entire chapter without two paragraphs on the same topic. The style is readily accessible but sufferes somewhat through lack of conclusive discussion. One gets the impression that the impact of the book could be improved by a more detailed development. Still, there is a wealth of material here, and it serves as an excellent introduction to the trandisciplinary nature of complexity theory and it's applications. I read the book in conjunction with a number of other, less popularly oriented works and found this combination brought the ideas in "Patterns..." to the fore. The strength of the book I felt was in sketching the relationships between a large number of ideas rather than in exploring any of the ideas per se. If you are looking for a mathematical treatment, or an in-depth discussion on the foundations of complexity, I'd recommend you shop elsewhere. But if you are looking for an intellectual brainstorm to cross-fertilise your own ideas on complexity, this may be the book for you.
<< 1 >>
| 
