The Quark and the Jaguar: Adventures in the Simple and the Complex

Rating:
Summary: Confused Attempt at a Theory of Everything
Review: The title of this review, and my low rating, are not meant as a condemnation Murray Gell-Mann as a scientist or visionary thinker. The problem is that this book has little focus and apparently does not know what it wants to be. It's difficult to tell if Gell-Mann is writing a biography of his own personal research history, or if he's attempting to draw large conclusions from his highly varied works. Gell-Mann is truly a polymath and has drawn insights into all kinds of disparate fields such as physics, chemistry, biology, linguistics, and psychology. All of these areas and more receive coverage in this book, and Gell-Mann tries to draw them all together into a unified theory of everything, using his most recent research into complex adaptive systems as a framework. Hence the sub-title of this book, as an attempt is made to draw together the very simple (quark) and the very complex (jaguar). Unfortunately, this grand connection fails to materialize as the book drags on, and the proposition of complex adaptive systems as the missing link is ultimately unconvincing. I'm also suspicious of all of Gell-Mann's reminiscing about his colleagues and exploits at Cal-Tech and the Santa Fe Institute. These almost seem like part of a fund-raising drive for these institutions. Gell-Mann would have been better served just putting together a compendium of his scientific achievements, without the attempt to tie them all together, which he doesn't quite accomplish here.

Rating:
Summary: Too scattershot and vague
Review: The tour from the infinitesimal and lonely world of the fundamental particle to the fully integrated and interdependent world that we live in as presented by Gell-Mann seems lacking in details in the most important parts. Also, the tenor of the book changes as his interest in certain topics like particle physics (for which he won the Nobel Prize) and environmental conservation increase and his interest in topics like mathematics, artificial intelligence and schemata dwindle.

His soft approach to this presentation of topics is refreshing and very informative. For the topics that he has an especially keen interest in, the book is a pleasure to read. At times, I felt that the topic of particle physics was finally presented in a way that was understandable to me.

The final chapters where Gell-Mann becomes excited about conservation is where he seems to go off the deep end, though. Contrasted with the previous chapters that were based on quantifiable data and hard evidence, Gell-Mann treats the reader to a lot of vague hand waving and allusions to the mysterious knowledge of native people. His generalizations are a little overboard (as are mine, I suppose) and his conclusions are not based on clear logic but rather guessing games. It would not be right to critique his stance on protecting the environment or his "let them weave baskets to earn income" view of lesser developed countries here in a short book review, but it can be said that if he wanted to discuss this topic, he could have at least provided evidence of the vast wasting and extermination of the environment and indigenous cultures that he wishes to stop.

Overall, this is a book that starts the discussion about our future. It contains a lot of physics (don't be put off! It's very clear and easy to understand), but the main thrust of the book is that we are all in this together and it is our responsibility to work together which is in our best interest. It's not hard to fault him on this. If he had stuck to that topic and laid out some supports, this would have been an excellent book. I can't recommend buying it though. Go to the sources: Sierra Club, Paul Erlich, the UN. That is where you will find better explanations of his views, I believe.

Rating:
Summary: A book that makes a difference
Review: This book contains nothing really new, neither is very funny and nor will the language make it a classic. Still, this is one of those books that make a difference. Many young scientists will read this book and many will be sceptical. However, some of them will also become intrigued and fascinated by the potential of complexity theory which is so well mediated by Gell-Mann. Some of these may eventually change the world...
I will not be surprised the day when a laureate, that just received the prize from the hands of the swedish royalties, tells us:
- It all started when I read Gell-Mann's book about complexity. I just couldn't get it out of my head...

Rating:
Summary: Nice.
Review: This book is a little strange, and tries to cover a lot of ground without gaining miles. The question is if it is worth it to buy and read. I think it is, if only because of the excellent review of particle physics and the fact that Gell-Mann is one of the smartest men alive. But the book is much more ambitious, what in some cases is actually a good thing. Not in this one, however.

The main subject of the book is the study of "complex adaptive systems" carried out in the Santa-Fe Institute. Gell-Mann tries to review the topics studied there, but not because he glorifies the place, or think that it is unique, but because he knows the territory well (He helped found it). So the first section deals with the definitions of complexity, of adaptation, and of a system. There are good explanations of things like Algorithmic information content, and effective complexity, among other things. So far, Gell-Mann adds to the then-ever-popular issue of complexity. Not much can be said that is terribly wrong or innovative so far.

In the second section Gell-Mann goes into what he knows best, and it shows. The standard model of particle physics has very rareley been as well explained as in this book. Superstring, a little cosmology and the arrow of time are given space. But in the third section, things start to fall appart. Suddenly Gell-Mann gives inadequate discussions of evolution, useless talks of "memes" and the complex origins of theorizing, superstition and things like that. Economics is swiftly introduced, only to add to the confusion. The last section of the book, is was unecessary and downright strange. (som may object). It dealt with social issues and possible solutions. This part seemed to belong to another book, or writer, altogether.

So the book is not a lost case. It is interesting, reads well, and has some good ideas and explanations. But it is by no means what one would normaly expect coming from a Nobel prize winning physicist.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing...
Review: This book is quite a disappointment even accounting for the fact that the scientific endeavors it outlines were just becoming "hot" when it was published. The disappointment has a lot to do with the ego of the author and his apparent lack of knowledge outside of his field.

Gell-Mann, winner of the Physics Nobel Prize, has obviously let this go to his head. That is, one wonders whether he would write anything resembling some of the views in the book without being able to point out that he won the prize and, therefore, his view is important.

The book begins with some personal anecdotes that tie in to some very general information about complexity. Gell-Mann then goes through a lead-in to Quantum Theory and proceeds to outline the general area of his own specialty: Quantum Chromodynamic Theory. All of this overview is generally acceptable but there are better books for learning this information, notably Bohm's old primer (which Gell-Mann notes was even well-received by Einstein).

Then Gell-Mann launches into a rambling discourse trying to tie parts of complexity, evolution and economics together. It was here that I began to get rather frustrated since there is a lot that is missing. Notably it is apparent where the Sante Fe "high priests" of complexity have determined who is "in" and who is "out" of their exclusive club. And it is evident that Prigogine, Wolfram and Chaitin, to name a few, are not members of the club.

And it is not hard to figure out why they aren't noted here: the Sante Fe group are really some sort of materialists at heart. This is rather an odd philosophy for those involved in complexity but it is obvious there is a belief that they are in pursuit of a "true science", to quote one of their founders from another book. But if you admit that science is creating ever more compressed theories and you cannot ever determine if something is optimally compressed then how do you state there is a "true science"?

Well, welcome to world where a few thousand years of philosophy are thrown out the window, no doubt since philosophy is not a "true science". Yes, arguments based on tautology (the good old "gem") abound here but sadly, no matter how smart these guys may be, they miss this small fact and proceed to make sweeping pronouncments from the pulpit instead. The real fun is how many times the Sante Fe group can note Zipf's law (power law) in data and make sweeping conclusions about the relationship of some model to reality yet then admit, quite sheepishly I think, that no one has any idea what the power law means.

Anyway, the more I read the more disapointed I became. The final chapters, very thin I must add, are supposed to be Gell-Mann's contribution to the general well-being of the planet. Oh yes, we have some major problems with the whole concept of "sustainable development" but I doubt that anyone with Gell-Mann's philosophy is going to contribute in a positive fashion to fixing the problem.

That is, we need less of this preaching and more caution. This is all the more evident with the genome mapping fiasco - Sante Fe has spent years relating models of human evolution to a genome count of 100,000. If the models (in other words, the science) were so good why didn't they point out that really only have 30,000? Well, could it be your science is plain wrong? We'll see if any of this crowd has the guts to actually admit that.

If you want something worthwhile, read Prigogine's work. Or Chaitin. Or Jantsch. But don't bother with this soon-forgotten book.

Rating:
Summary: Has nothing to do with Ecuador.
Review: This book should not be listed under Ecuador (i.e., the Republic of Ecuador). It is a treatise in/on nuclear physics.

Rating:
Summary: "It's good for us__chaos and color, I mean."
Review: Whean a scientist reaches to a certain calibre, the fields of knowledge begin to converge and get integrated..same is the case with Mr. Gell-mann.., In this bookm I have found new paths to discover and new challenges to ponder..The balance between the chaos and order, the simple and the complex is the key to survival for a dynamic complex adaptive system..,the fundamental question is "Why and What I am doing on this planet Earth." Gell-mann has effectively tried to explain the relation between all complex systems including humans as we call from the simplest scale to the most complex one..from the shortest particle to the expanding universe..