Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful .. WOW .. Deserves second reading.
Review: I recently finished this book and wow is all I can say. Waldrop is a terrific writer and he has done marvelous job in explaining the difficult concepts. His breadth and depth of knowledge about different subjects is amazing.
This book is light and reads more like a fiction, but at the same time theories of complexity just unfold naturally among the stories of the people who are creating this science.
Complexity as a science is relatively new, and I wonder why. The questions these scientists are trying hard to find answer of are not new. These are simple: How did life start ? Why is ecosystem so complex ? Why are so many other unexplained things in the world ? How does mind work ? How does economy work ? What's the difference between machine and life ?Scientists have yet to to find the real answer. This book just chronicles their quest. I learned a lot reading this book and now look at things differently. One astounding concept that appears in the book is that "Life is nothing but computation. The raw molecules are the hardware and the life is the software." Looks elegant. As for other reviewers' inappropriate comments that this book is regarding "scientists drinking coffee", thats wrong opinion and far from truth. This is not a scientific monograph where all you see is dumb (read: abstruse) mathematical equations which can be understood only by the selcted ones in that particular sub-sub-sub branch of sub-sub-subject and which make no sense even to highly literate, science educated people. This is a novel about the science and the people who work in the science, and sheer depth of ideas discussed and debated just amazes me. Nowhere else could I have captured a glimpse of thought process of brilliant scientists like John Holland, Stuart Kauffman, Brian Arthur, Gell-Mann and George Cowan. As to why "Complexity Science" is needed, I have just this: Traditional conventional Physics, economics and biology CAN NOT explain a lot of things that we see around us. That is why we need this new science. Its agreed that this is new, immature, incomplete but at least this is a new way of looking at things. Things that can not be explained by our esteemed conventional sciences, things like Nasdaq 5000 and its crash, origins of life, how mind works, why Microsoft is making so much money on a such piece of ... To answer questions like these, we need this new science. We have to start afresh, and this is the fresh start, of looking at things from a different perspective, not as parts, but as a whole. I just hope that Wladrop or someone else would write something similar now to tell the people about the progress in this area in last 10-12 years. Buy it. Read it. You won't regret it.
Rating:
Summary: Genisis of new science , the world we don't see!
Review: Complexity made easy!That's the thought comes to my mind when I read this book.
A book that's alive and kicking with ideas and thoughts.It's a must read for those who want to understand the vagaries of our world.The world we take for granted ,the beauty diversity and amazing life on earth revealed in one book.It's the small begining of new realm of Science called Complexity , that's shown so wonderfully, in economy, ecology and Genetic Algorithms. It leaves you with a new perspective to see the world , in which everything appears amazingly fresh and beautifull, be it economy, politics or biology.
Rating:
Summary: great book
Review: I read this book with complete interest the whole time. Not only is the idea of "complexity" fascinating; this narrative of the (so far) history of it's great thinkers was an excellent book.
Rating: 
Summary: Waldrop is a victim of "creative math",so are most reviewers
Review: ...This book is not about science...It is about scientists picking noses or scientists going to bathrooms.
I would recommend any one who is interested in this topic to read Gleick's "chaos: making a new science". If Gleick's book is too painful for you, you might as well give up. Some kids become scientists, some kids become pop singers. Be real.
Rating:
Summary: Add To Collection of 'Great Thinkers'
Review: Back in the early '90s I remember taking a multi-day course for Covey's 7-Habits. In one activity we were to identify a course-altering event in our lives. I can't even remember what mine was, but I do remember that someone else had chosen a book. I hadn't considered a book, but this book immediately came to mind and replaced the answer I had chosen. This was the book that helped me understand the larger concept of patterns in everything and how there is even evidence to show that the creation of the world included a random pattern generator based off of some core themes. I noticed this one day while a Disney piece that I would have hated when it would have originally played during my childhood, but suddenly took on new meaning: Donald in MathMagic Land. Suddenly math made more sense. Now I apply the theories to Systems Engineering and Internet design (and general business strategy).
Rating:
Summary: People Magazine meets Chaos Theory
Review: This book (stinks)! Suppose you hear about "Chaos theory" from one of your friends. Suppose futher that you want to know more about the topic and buy this book. You won't be happy after 15 pages. Waldrop addresses an interesting accessible subject and takes the fun parts out. In His treatment there are no equations to play with. Discoveries are only described in bland terms and in those descriptions no access is given to the easy material that is available to anyone with a cursory knowledge of algebra. Buy this book if you want to read about scientists drinking coffee. Don't buy this book if you want to hear even just a little bit about real science and applications.
Rating:
Summary: A Captivating Story
Review: The book gives you a coprehensive introduction to complexity theory, the terminology and explains the basic concepts behind it while at the same time drawing captivating portrait of the people who created the science. As the book jumps from one scientist to another and unveils its brillinat and passionate characters much in the way a good novel would, it also draws the reader into challanging thinking. In the process I found myself seemlesly introduced to complex ideas without any effort. If you are looking for a more scientific presentation of the theory this book will do little for you. However, what I did was after reading it I started buying the books authored by the scientists from the Santa Fe institute and found them to be much easier to understand after this introduction.
Rating:
Summary: You're intrested in Complexity? - read this book!
Review: This book is a wonderful introduction to the field of complexity. It is very thrilling to see how the described scientists are trying to solve the mistery of complexity in the context of daily work and straightforward thinking around them. Beside that, you get a good idea what kind of concepts are used without overwhelming you with details. Excellent! Very nice would be a 2nd edition summarizing the current status of the field.
Rating: 
Summary: Not a book on complexity, but .............
Review: a book about the mathematicians that developed complexity theory. My statement is more a warning than a complaint. Setting their results in a human and cultural context - as Waldrop does - makes an interesting read and a useful introduction to the field. And the field is promising; it looks at mathematical systems from the inside out, rather than the traditional outside in. Just don't buy the book expecting a guide to recreating even the simplest of systems mentioned. Those who want to play with the mathematics itself will find other books more helpful. See, for example, Flake's book, "The Computational Beauty of Nature", which contains a description of Waldrop's frequently mentioned "boids" in enough detail that a reader can create similar systems. Flake also describes the details of many of the other systems alluded to in Waldrop's book, mercifully at the "how to do it"level, rather than the rigorous "theorem and proof" level. The two books fit well together. Waldrop's writing style is clean, clear, literate, and unobtrusive. Read the book for what he says, rather than for how he says it. If you enjoy reading a technical book both for the what the author says - and for how he says it - try almost anything by John McPhee, particularly his loose series on the geology of North America.
Rating:
Summary: The technical book in story teller format
Review: There was a time when textbook is better understanding than story teller or novel. But there are many times that novel is better to tell you the story -making better understanding. Complexity of Chaos is one of the later case. You can learn so many technical issues from the novel -faster and better understanding.
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