<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: a unique personal account of a (then) new science
Review: After having studied fractals in school and reading numerous books on chaos and fractals on my own, I figured that Mandelbrot's book would be the pinnacle, surpassing everybody else's interpretations and getting the information "straight from the horse's mouth". I was wrong. Mandelbrot, while he may be a brilliant mathematician, has not quite mastered the English language. The topics that he speaks of in this book are basic, not exactly what you would expect from the leader in his field. He doesn't even go into real specifics, or not the specifics that I wanted to see going into this book. In fact, I didn't even bother finishing it. There was nothing new, no powerful insights that other books may have missed. Mandelbrot, it seems is much better at mathematics then at writing. My suggestion is to buy a different book on the subject.
Rating:
Summary: a unique personal account of a (then) new science
Review: highly personal, highly self-congradulatory, highly-amusing, highly interesting, a great read! More math/sci authors should tell us how they really feel like Mandelbrot!
Rating: 
Summary: A review on the book -- not on Mandelbrot
Review: Mandelbrot is the person who introduced the fractal theory to the world in its present form. Many fields of science including geophysics have gained from fractals. However, this is not the book one should read to gain knowledge on the subject. It is not an easily readable book. 1. It is not well-organized 2. It does not cover necessary things in detail 3. Frustratingly long in some parts. Instead the books: Feder, Fractals; Turcotte, Fractals and Chaos in Geology and Geophysics can be recommended. Fractal geometry may be interesting as a historical book, after one gains a sufficient knowledge on fractals.
Rating:
Summary: Essential classic book for everyone's library
Review: Mandelbrot presents unique and infinitely deep look at nature. The emerging theory of interaction shows that his notion of fractal turned to be more fruitful than anyone could guess. Savov's theory of interaction rigorously proves that nature is one self-reproducing and therefore self-similar fractal like interaction. Its oscillating sources remain always finite and synchronize to eject smaller similar ones.
Rating: 
Summary: beauty does not equate to depth or thoroughness
Review: Mandelbrot's update of his classic work is certainly eye-catching. However, just like its forerunner, it fails to answer the simplest questions, including, "How do I calculate the fractal dimension of this curve?" and "How can I manage to plot the Julia set for myself?" The answers to such questions have to be gleaned by the intelligent--and mathematically sophisticated--reader for himself. (One sees this phenomenon all the time in "advanced" mathematics books. It means that either [a] the author has his head stuck in the clouds and expects the reader to use divination, or [b] he prefers to keep his readers ignorant.) For a much more practical and rewarding discussion, read "The Science of Fractal Images" edited by Peitgen and Saupe. The math is clear; the algorithms are plainly stated for the PC enthusiast with some simple programming skills; and the color plates are astounding.
Rating: 
Summary: Good, one of the first, but not the best
Review: The book is still a milestone in the history of fractals, but it gets currently lost among the many available publications. Surely a good book, but there now exist other texts that can be considered more advisable to a reader, particularly to a computer-oriented one.
Rating:
Summary: A dated but still fascinating book
Review: This was the book that first caught my attention. It was the cover diagram: a figure the like of which I had never seen. One thing led to another until I finally wrote my own application of fractals, Fractals in Music. Mandelbrot is an odd character, but a superb thinker. His book does not offer a lot of science, but rather a compelling view of how this fascinating and growing topic developed. I recommend it highly.
<< 1 >>
| 
