Complexification: Explaining a Paradoxical World Through the Science of Surprise - Hardcover

Casti, John L.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0060168889 ISBN 13: 9780060168889

Publisher: HarperCol, 1994

Synopsis

A mathematician explores how complexity arises, showing how the universe consists of unpredictable "dynamical systems" so subtle that human logic cannot fathom them and laying the groundwork for a "Science of Surprise." 30,000 first printing. $30,000 ad/promo. Tour.

About this title

About the Author

American complexity scientist and systems theoristJohn Casti, is cofounder of The X-Center, a Viennabasedresearch institute focusing on human-causedextreme events and how to anticipate them. Casti haspublished nearly twenty volumes of academic and popularscience and received his Ph.D. in mathematics from theUniversity of Southern California. He lives in Vienna,Austria.

Reviews

Most books on complexity theory promise to lead the epistemological thrill-seeker far out on the limb of theory. Not so Casti ( Searching for Certainty ). He admits early on to a major "surprise" about chaos and other formal systems: that even with artificial intelligence as a new tool, theory cannot capture nature. After an almost old-fashioned undergraduate review of basic concepts of dynamical systems, Casti shows how formal complexity models proceed from the basic "surprises." Always more interested in instructing than in dazzling with sensational and obtuse ideas, Casti steers the reader toward an understanding of the field. He's a good teacher and this is the kind of grounding lay readers should have before they step farther out on a new paradigm.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: HarperCol
• Publication date: 1994
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0060168889
• ISBN 13: 9780060168889
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320