Rating: 
Summary: What a disappointment
Review: I might also have entitled my review, "See Carlos Camara's review of April 11, 2002." Camara captures my own thoughts to a tee. Where Gell-Mann is strongest, namely, on particle physics, his strengths shine through. Though hardly a rigorous survey of the field, the second section of Q&J is a compelling introduction to it -- and certainly whets one's appetite for further reading. The book's first section (an overview of the notion of complexity) is decent (though far better popular treatments can be found elsewhere). The book's third and fourth sections, however, are pretty much a total wash. I could tolerate them only insofar as they reflected the obvious integrity of the author. He is a political kindred spirit. That said, having purchased Q&J and had high expectations of it, I was surprised and not a little frustrated at how bereft of substance it was on matters "Jaguarian". More than a little disconnected, I found the second half of Q&J rambling, pedestrian, and even sophomoric. Certainly not what one expects of a Nobel prize winning physicist and of one of the founders of the Santa Fe institute. My respect for Gell-Mann, as a scientist and a humanist, is in no way diminished by Q&J, but I cannot help but feel that he (and his publisher) faltered with this effort. My advice: read the first half of Q&J for a cursory -- but well-written -- survey of complexity and particle physics. Skip the second half altogether.
Rating: 
Summary: A tough slog that's more about quarks than jaguars
Review: I picked this up because I thought it was going to have some information about Ecuador (the Jaguar section) in it. It does--about one whole pages worth. The rest of the pages concern Gell-Mann's ideas on the inter-connectedness of things. Gell-Mann, for those of you who don't buy the Nobel prize-winning scientist collector cards, was the identifier of the Quark, that object that is smaller than what had previously been thought of as the smallest element (electrons are made up of a collection of quarks). This book is interesting but rough slogging at times as Gell-Mann tries to give you an instant understanding of the last ten years of modern physics. This should appeal to fans of Richard Feynman and Douglas Hofstadter, although the style isn't as smooth as either of them.
Rating:
Summary: El matraz escéptico
Review: I recommend the reading of the interview of Gell-Mann with J. Horgan published in the book: "The End of Science". The Quark and The Jaguar replicate the "excellence" of its author (GM). Following the "profile" of GM, we can say that the book is pretentious, very "ignorant", archaic, wrong and partial. PRETENTIOUS because present the world as completely known. For example, he says that a quantum physicist could solve anything problem on chemistry! This is stupid! "IGNORANT" because he recites about some aspects of science and philosophy that he does not know. My search-tool ONLY found 40 significant works of GM on scientific databases! ARCHAIC because some aspects of GM discourse were discarded 50 years ago! WRONG since he ignores works published in scientific journals. PARTIAL because he only shows own unusual ideas or others imported as if they were originated on Santa Fe Institute (The "revolutionary" SFI idea of studying the simple and the complex is well known in usual physical chemistry and statistical physics. One studies the "simple" (the particle) and the "complex" (collections of molecules and aggregates). The book has some good points (see others reviews) but I don't recommend it. I suggest other books by Prigogine, Weinberg, Wolfram, Hawking, etc.Really, there is only one great contribution and knowledge of GM: quarks theory (QCD). The contributions on biology, geology, neurology, physiology, chemistry, philosophy, linguistic and others are easily summarized: none. Moreover, some aspects of GM dissertation are completely wrong for the expertise. What are the contribution and knowledge on chaos, thermodynamics, cosmology, atomic theory and chemical physics, fluctuations and critical phenomena or on dissipative structures? The response is none, and all this is well observed in the book! I'm sorry, but the supposed "Polymath" is not an expertise on quantum physics. He WAS a great expertise on quarks theory but his contribution and knowledge of electronic and nuclear structure theory, GUT's, and others are in fact nulls. In no doubt, the ideas of the book on quantum chemistry are completely wrong. For instance, chemistry has not been reduced to QED. See the chapter on electroweak chemistry of the book "Chemistry for the 21st century". I know that the quantum chemist Brändas develops (since 1971!) more advances theories than standard QM. The book reflect the ignorance of GM on crucial aspects of standard or generalized quantum mechanics as CSM, Austin-Brussels theory, AIM, TFD, etc. The contribution and knowledge of the author on non-equilibrium quantum statistical mechanics (ESSENTIAL for our knowledge of nature) and its presence on the book is zero. In the limits of my knowledge, nobody in elementary particle physics use his "genial" ideas or "seminal" theories, except the excellent quark model. For example, I do not find references to GM work on superstrings in my copies of CERN seminars. Already in 90's, particle physicists disbelieve of the questionable point of view of GM on the "last formulation" of physics and they began the "M-theory". Even in particle physics the book is incomplete and/or wrong! The contribution and knowledge on mathematical-physics or foundations of physics are very deficient and it is reflected on the book. The "multiple-histories" formalism (a basis for "trivial" quantum, ecological, cosmological and biological deliberation of GM on the book) is NOT used by scientific community. The most of his supposed "rationalization" of evolution, of life's origin and self-organization are useless in scientific "serious" literature. His irrelevant insights to the dynamical sources of the second law or to cosmology are completely wrong (See the excellent Prigogine's criticism on his last book "The end of certainty"). Some of the philosophical points of view appointed in the book about the ontological structure of science are invalid! The knowledge of the author in epistemology is also shocking for us. For example, elementary courses of physical chemistry show that theories never are "correct" or "incorrect". Philosophers like to say that theories are "applicable" or "inapplicable". The value of the book on "hot" topics of information theory is very questionable and here GM deliberate about strange and vague concepts as Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS) no well accepted in current scientific literature. For a scientific criticism of the very wrong ideas of the book on information theory and entropy, I recommended the article "Science of Chaos or Chaos in Science?" (In: The Flight from Science and Reason, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 775, 1996, pp.131-175) by J. Bricmont (the coauthor of the book "Intellectual impostures"). CAS is only a "sound" name without physical or biological signification outside of the Santa Fe Institute (In chemistry, CAS signifies Chemical Abstract Service!). Moreover, the book fails in the scientific details and then it is internally INCONSISTENT in several points. It is impossible sustain the standard model (dynamical groups) of QM in one hand and natural selection in the other (See "The End of certainty"). It is impossible sustain in one hand "archaic" quantum wave theory and quantum chaos in the other, or CPT symmetries of particle physics in one hand and the arrow of time in the other (see the book "The Direction of Time" by Zeh). It is inconsistent the standard view of quantum postulates and the old unresolved problems of measure theory (still today, there are investigations about the "Schrödinger cat problem" and the "parallel universes" in the more prestigious journals of physics), etc. However, the Polymath ("The Polymath Who Knows Everything") must ignore all this. Translated by J.R. González-Ãlvarez.
Rating: 
Summary: A beautiful utopia!
Review: In the XVIII century, some Newtonians physicist thought that they had obtained the final formulation of science. Some physicist thought the same in the XIX century. The quantum physicist Born has said: "In six mouths, physics will be finished". Hawking extended the time to 25 years in the 1980's. M. Gell-Mann's book is very good for some physicist, but utopian for others scientist. I could write a lot of pages about "The quark and the jaguar" but my criticism is concise: 1º) At present, there is no final formulation for physics of particles. 2º) Quantum mechanics is an approximated theory only. 3º) The great physicist tell us that the irreversible phenomena are not real. Some logical consequences are that Gell-Mann did not win the Nobel Prize for physics (an irreversible process) and there is no Universe (there was no Big bang!). 4º) The example of jam bottle, presented by the author is excellent for science-fiction movies. From a microscopic viewpoint (the only valid view by Gell-Mann) they can not be mixed (contaminated) and theys remain in the original state before the mixing process! In that case, why can I do it in my home? 5º) In 1929 Dirac wrote: "The underlying physical laws necessary for the mathematical theory of... the whole of chemistry are thus completely know...". Murray Gell-Mann tells us, in his book that Dirac exaggerated. All the same, Gell-Mann attributed the final formulation of chemistry to the QED. A modern exaggeration! 6º) QM explained the molecules for the author. This is not correct. Some chemist shows some doubts about the relation between chemical structure and mathematical theory of quantum physics (Scerri, E. R. J. Chem. Educ. 2000, 77, p522-525). 7º) Etc.
Rating: 
Summary: Description of many of the fundamentals of information
Review: Information is rapidly becoming the new currency of business and scientific advancement. To understand information in any area, it is necessary to understand what the fundamental units are, both of information and in the area in question. However, quantum mechanics is probably unique, in that movement to the fundamental level increases the complexity. The actions that occur at the quantum level are so counter to our usual experience that it almost becomes an act of faith to believe that this is indeed how nature behaves. Gell-Mann, a Nobel prize-winning physicist, spends a great deal of time explaining the fundamentals of quantum mechanics and does it very well.
He explains the fundamentals of quantum mechanics and then moves on to clear up some of the common misconceptions concerning what is allowed and disallowed. A chapter is dedicated to an explanation of superstring theory, which is a theory that may explain all the forces of nature, but is still speculative and may never be verified or refuted.
His chapters on information in biology and how it operates in natural selection are also very well done. Given the current controversy concerning the role of natural selection in education, it is refreshing to hear a firm voice of reason arguing in favor of natural selection. He also delves into some of the more dubious areas of science, that of ball lightning and fish and frogs falling from the sky. While there have been many eyewitness accounts to fish falling from the sky, some of the strongest evidence is biological in nature. Biologists doing surveys of fish in distinct bodies of water have expressed puzzlement as to how the same species of fish can be present in two lakes that have no connection. If there are occasional meteorological conditions that can extract fish from a lake and then deposit them elsewhere, then the problem is solved.
We have all read some of the outlandish claims made in tabloid newspapers regarding the abilities of some extraordinary humans. However, there are occasions when such abilities do exist. One such situation is described in the book and it deals with the ability of a person to read the contents of a vinyl record by examining the grooves. The individual passed several rigorous tests conducted by professional skeptics, verifying that the skill does indeed exist.
I found Gell-Mann's writing to be clean, understandable and unpretentious. His explanations of information as used by both humans and nature is an eye-opener for anyone who works in information technology and I recommend it to everyone with an interest in how information is used and occasionally misused.
Rating: 
Summary: A fantastic trip throgh 20th century physics
Review: Murray Gell-Mann is an odd combination of a brilliant and focused physicist and an curious and open citizen of the world. This book manages to showcase both sides of the man. _The Quark and the Jaguar_ begins as a tour of 20th century physics, the big theories complete with Gell-Mann's scientific commentary and personal descriptions of the people who made them, himself included. Along the way the book drifts more and more into the areas that Gell-Mann is concerned about outside physics: the environment, the study of complexity, the future of the human race. Gell-Mann communicates his concerns and views without ever getting up on a soapbox or skewing his descriptions of the state of theoretical physics today.
Rating:
Summary: Save your money, and buy this book!
Review: Saving money by buying this book? How can that be? The answer is very simple. 1) For instance, you want to buy a book about thought experiment involving Schrödinger cat, because you are interested how is it possible that cat can be simultaneously both, live and dead. Well, quantum mechanics doesn't imply that cat is live and dead at the same time, so there is no such a problem. 2) Say, you want to buy a book about parallel universes which suppose to emerge from strange quantum mechanical laws. Don't, because those parallel universes doesn't emerge from quantum mechanics (or from any other known physical law!) 3) Likewise, don't buy books which wants to 'explain' spooky affects of one photon on the other in the distance. That is not what happening after all. 4) Also, some books covers the subject about how biological evolution violate the second law of thermo-dynamics (because in biological evolution order tend to increase with the passage of time). Truth is that this is not truth. All these, and many other questions Gell-Mann clearly explain in 'Quark and the Jaguar', so don't waste your time and money on those books. You may ask your self: But, maybe Gell-Mann is wrong? Maybe he is, but it is extremely unlikely. He is the greatest living authority on quantum mechanics you can find around, so it is very wise to take seriously what he wants to tell us. Gell-Mann is, by all means, a far away from popular speculation and misunderstandings. His goal is not to take your money by writing what most people want to hear - a kind of misticism in science. 'Quark and the Jaguar' covers really wide range of subjects, which is not very surprising considering his brilliant mind. If you want to open up your mind this is the book for you. After reading it, you can start studying subjects you are especially interested for. 'Quark and the Jaguar' is must for any intelligent individual.
Rating:
Summary: trying very hard to make progress in "complexity" theory
Review: The "reductionistic" scientific method, which seeks to reduce phonomena to simpler and more general underlying bludprints, has dominated the last three centuries. It works great in physics, as Newton domonstrated, but less well in other disciplines such as biology and psychology. For example, molecular biologists have isolated DNA, but have yet to adequately explain embroyonic development, protein folding and other riddles. To overcome these shortcomings, many are calling for a theory of complexity, which should focus on systems and the dynamics of development where order appears to organize itself from a bewildering number of interacting factors.
Gell-Mann argues that rather than replacing reductionist methods, complexity theory complements that approach. The quark is the simple and universal, the jaguar the complex. He suggests that between these two exists an unbroken chain.
Gell-Mann attempts to make his contribution with teh "complex adaptive system" that "acquires information about its environment" and indentifies "regularities in that information", which are then condensed into a "schema" or "model"; these latter are "non-static," and unlike a quark can evolve. Each complex adaptive system contains three strands: 1) basic rules; 2) frozen accidents; 3) a selection process. For example, language has genetically inherited cognitive capabilites with certain quirky attributes that persist and yet can change as the individual must describe new phenomena. A lot of the book is devoted to finding and explaining similar examples. It is a panoramic and entertaining excursion through human knowledge, if a bit cursory.
Gell-Mann also hopes to guide scientists into a more holistic and cross-disciplinary approaches. With its focus on historical development and links between the simple and complex, the study of complex adaptive systems, he argues, may be the spur required to stimulate such approaches, briging physics, chemistry, biology and even the social sciences. This is what he is doing at the Santa Fe Institute.
At its best, the book is a window into a great scientific mind, with fascinating mini-essays on state of the art science. Unfortunately, Gell-Mann is an uneven writer. Many passages are impenetrable to lay readers like myself. At a deeper level, he fails to critique the vague research agendas of the complexologists, who have been ridiculously popularised in such enues as Wired. Even the complex adaptive system may say too little about too much. Through it all, Gell-Mann maintains his pose as a total pedant.
REcommended. It is uneven, but this is one of the greatest thinks of the 20C.
Rating:
Summary: Is Consilience Becoming a Reality?
Review: The author presents a background in quantum mechanics(QM) with its obvious offspring of chaos theory well within the grasp of an interested layman in how the laws of physics in a non mathematical presentation effect varied disciplines and life itself. The book in itself is a very interesting presentation of a particle physicist life in a somewhat auto biographical prose. There are numerous experiences which deal with creativity, the scientific method, and facing social and cultural obstacles. Life of an individual and the community is analyzed within the context of QM as a framework for explaining its simplicity and how complexity arises from an apparent chaos. The chaos is the limitations that all humans and organisms face in their interpretation of the information within their immediate enviroment in their quest for survival and reproduction. Discussed is the consilience of mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, philosophy, psychology, and socialogy by means of institutes like Santa Fe and other similar organizations throughout the world where scientists exchange varied inputs of their specific expertise. Some of these excerpts of how experts meet and discuss ideas is very stimulating. These institutes foster so called crazy ideas. The author digresses into past history of crazy ideas and finds a few of those as normal in today's context. The book is a fairly easy read. It is lengthy with chapters appearing to be a bore except in later chapters the reference to past readings suddenly become very interesting. The reader should give the author leeway in these slow developing chapters.
Rating:
Summary: Great work
Review: The cantankerous Gell-Mann offers up a great book rich with meaning that explains the world of complexity and self-organizing systems, patterns and the mind of a genius.
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