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Summary: Science discovers truth
Review: The new scientific discoveries of 'self-organisation' in the cosmos leaves the theist's exited claim of 'intelligent design' hollow. Michael Behe's famous 'irreducible' molecular "machines" can now be explained. In this lucid book, Kauffman reveals how "catalytic cycles", "self organising chemical systems" and "hypercycles" go to explain how the molecular 'machines' can arise. Behe and his crew have failed to appreciate the power of self-organization.Science is now getting closer to the truth. Kauffman's conclusion in the chapter 'The Origins of Life' is: "Order for free, I call it." ... "the motto of life is not 'We the improbable', but 'We the expected'." Not only have scientists discovered that the cosmos reveal a set of rational, mathematical laws which all matter happens to obey, (the laws of physics), but they are now discovering an built-in 'program' underlying the cosmos which happens to direct evolution toward the existence of rational, sentient beings such as ourselves - hence an evolutionary direction towards the existence of awareness, love, intrinsic value, and the capacity for us to communicate with our Creator Indeed science is getting there. It seems the dogmatic materialists cannot see "purpose" even when it comes up and slaps them in the face. That rightoues Dude just won't be restrained. Hup!
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Summary: A good book
Review: I 've got some interesting ideas. However, some chapters exploit much of the recurring theme and are boring.
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Summary: Definitely a mind opener
Review: A must-read for managers involved in change management and related areas (like knowledge management). Anyone with an open mind and a job which involves issues that deal with acquiring critical mass should read this one. It is packed with triggers to re-evaluate your paradigms and concepts.
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Summary: A scientific argument supporting natural origins of life
Review: This is a good book, elementary, accessible. Scientific readers seeking something tangible about which to debate and argue should seek out Kauffman's "The Origins of Order." Reading past reviews confirms one of my fears, though: some will take the presentation as an alternate reality, a 'glimpse of God,' a profound set of propositions posited and proved. The book is nothing like any of this--it is not a Bible, and its propositions are certainly not accepted by much of the scientific community, not yet. But it does present deep connections among highly interacting biological systems--genetic regulatory networks, for example--and simple mathematical models exhibiting rich and interesting behavior. Experiment will determine over time whether any of Kauffman's work is scientifically meaningful, and similar remarks hold for most of the output of the Santa Fe Institute. Is it innovative? Absolutely. Intriguing? Certainly. Provocative? Without a doubt--I'm rereading "The Origins of Order" for the second time. Is it correct? That--as well as the conclusions from the hundreds of disparate fields to which complexity has been applied--remains to be determined. But I do think one should read this book, then go off and think a lot more about what it means, maybe write a paper. But please, don't pray with this book; don't pray to any science book.
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Summary: Excellent book summarizing ideas about complex systems
Review: This book is a good introduction (and past introductory) reader into complex system theory. Kauffman has excellent ideas all around! However, everyone knows by now that the complexity of the universe is inversely related to its probability of its being in a particular state. This seems to be a fatal omission! For how can we understand the complexity of the world around us without talking about the amplification of nondeterministic events? Additional coverage of the complexity introduced into genetic lineages through random permutation, and coverage of the complexity of society through memes would have been nice as well. I guess we can look forwards to his next book!
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Summary: One of the most important books I have ever read.
Review: A very penetrating look at complex systems. Important not only in the realm of science, but also ethics, religion, and ecology. Readers should have at least a cursory understanding of chaos theory and autopoiesis (self organizing systems). An extraordinary book. Makes my "top-three-of-all-time" list.
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Summary: Excellent book!
Review: Unlike many recent authors who write books just to show off, Kauffman is one of those authors that wants to teach, to convey his ideas to the world. In this book Kauffman introduces the reader to self-organization, complexity and chaos by means of simple and practical examples that I can simulate in my computer.....This is an excellent book!!
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Summary: A new metaphor!
Review: "Evolution" is the ubiquitous metaphor of our days. Kauffman ideas go further: there is something else that leads the systems to achieve higher levels of complexity. "Higher levels of complexity", like the ones we can find, for instance, in living beings, like us.
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Summary: Extraordinary
Review: What a brain! We often look (up) to physicists to explain those aspects of our world which were once the proper purview of religion. Here is a biologist whose ideas must be taken in that same breath. This is a book whose ideas are truly profound. Mr. Kauffman reframed the way I conceptualized everything from myself, to society, the business cycle and biological evolution. In another era, this would be a spiritual text, a moving book which would alter the way we look at the world and ourselves. A reader with a background in literary theory or economics will find intriguing connections between classical theories of market economics and also the work of Derrida. To be honest, the prose can be trying at moments, but I imagine the text reads like Kauffman thinks...swiftly. In a way, this is a good thing, because the book forces you to slow down and think. You will scribble in the margins for hours, doting on and questioning his ideas about self-reproducting and organzing phenomenon and the notion that all complex systems evolve on the edge between stasis and chaos. Put simply: Read this book.
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Summary: Fleeting Glimpse of God
Review: I have been reading this book almost as if it were a spiritual text: a few pages at a time and regularly since I got it, about a year ago. One has the sense that Kauffman and others who are working in this field are treading on new ground in our eternal quest to answer the fundamental questions about how the universe and we humans came to be. As one who intuitively believes that it all is coded in the basic structure of which the universe is composed, I am in awe of Kauffman's ability to describe, model and analyse everything from the formation of organic molecules to human economic systems. Almost as amazing is Kauffman's ability to describe extremely abstract concepts in terms non-experts can understand. He builds steadily from a description of how complex molecules probably emerged and formed "autocatalytic sets" to how such systems could (are probably) the foundation of living organisms. He continues to build on these concepts, ending with a discussion of how they apply to and can model technological and economic evolutions. I count this book as one of the most important I have read. Many years ago I read most of Bucky Fuller's books and they changed my outlook on our responsibility as residents of Earth and the universe. This book inspires a new and equally weighty sense: that some day (not in my lifetime) we may understand where we came from, what we are doing here and where we are going.
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