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Deep Simplicity
Chaos, Complexity and the Emergence of Life
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See moreThe world around us can be a complex, confusing place. Earthquakes happen without warning, stock markets fluctuate, weather forecasters seldom seem to get it right - even other people continue to baffle us. How do we make sense of it all? This title illuminates the harmony underlying our existence.
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Description
In this brilliantly enlightening book, John Gribbin, the man who made quantum theory clear with In Search of Schrodinger's Cat, shows that complexity is simple, and explains how life has emerged from simple systems.
Deep Simplicity is the first book to synthesise all the various ideas about chaos and complexity—from the butterfly effect to the intriguing concept of Gaia. It reveals that at the root of even what seems to be the most random behaviour, there are actually simple laws of cause and effect—essentially the same ones discovered by Newton 300 years ago.
But the sensitive way in which systems respond to those basic laws, combined with feedback, can explain why, for example, just one vehicle braking on a motorway can cause a traffic jam; how a tiny genetic mutation or environmental change may make a species develop in a wholly different way; or why wild weather fluctuations can result from a slight change in atmospheric pressure.
It can even explain people, the most complex systems of all, showing how we evolved from the most widely available raw materials in the Universe.
Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?
John Gribbin's Deep Simplicity is praised for its accessible and clear explanation of complexity science, effectively bridging classical physics with contemporary thought. Critics highlight Gribbin's ability to breathe life into complex ideas, making them engaging and understandable, while convincingly advocating the simplicity underlying the laws of nature, including biology.
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9780141007229
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 27 January 2005
Country: United Kingdom
Imprint: Penguin Books Ltd
Audience: General / adult, Tertiary education, Professional and scholarly
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 15.0mm
Width: 129.0mm
Height: 198.0mm
Weight: 202g
Pages: 272
About the Author
John Gribbin is one of today's greatest writers of popular science and the author of bestselling books, including In Search of Schr dinger's Cat, Stardust, Science- A History and Deep Simplicity. He is famous to his many fans for making complex ideas simple, and says that his aim in his writing - much of it done with his wife, Mary Gribbin - is to share with his readers his sense of wonder at the strangeness of the universe. John Gribbin trained as an astrophysicist at Cambridge University and is currently Visiting Fellow in Astronomy at the University of Sussex.
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