Turbulent Mirror: An Illustrated Guide to Chaos Theory and the Science of Wholeness - Softcover

Briggs, John

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0060916966 ISBN 13: 9780060916961

Publisher: Harper Perennial, 1990

Synopsis

Until recently, such phenomena as the volatility of weather systems, the fluctuation of the shock market, or the random firing of neurons in the brain were considered too "noisy" and complex to be probed by science. But now, with the aid of high-speed computers, scientists have been able to penetrate a reality that is changing the way we perceive the universe. Their findings -- the basis for chaos theory -- represent one of the most exciting scientific pursuits of our time.

No better introduction to this find could be found than John Briggs and F. David Peat's Turbulent Mirror. Together, they explore the many faces of chaos and reveal how its law direct most of the processes of everyday life and how it appears that everything in the universe is interconnected -- discovering an "emerging science of wholeness."

Turbulent Mirror introduces us to the scientists involved in study this endlessly strange field; to the theories that are turning our perception of the world on its head; and to the discoveries in mathematics, biology, and physics that are heralding a revolution more profound than the one responsible for producing the atomic bomb. With practical applications ranging from the control of traffic flow and the development of artifical intelligence to the treatment of heart attacks and schizophrenia, chaos promises to be an increasingly rewarding area of inquiry -- of interest to everyone.

About this title

About the Author

John Briggs, Ph.D., is a professor of English and the journalism coordinator at Western Connecticut State University. He lives in Danbury, Connecticut.

F. David Peat holds a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Liverpool and has written dozens of books on art, science, and spirituality. He lives in London and can be reached at www.fdavidpeat.com. They are the authors of Turbulent Mirror.

From Library Journal

Unlike James Gleick's Chaos: Making a New Science ( LJ 8/87), which focused heavily on mathematics, Briggs and Peat look at how chaos theory--the idea that turbulent phenomena actually contain organizing patterns--has also influenced other scientific disciplines, offering a model, for example, for understanding the human brain and developing computer systems for artificial intelligence. The book's chapter heading quotations from Chinese Taoist texts and Alice in Wonderland are clues that readers are being led into abstruse territory. But encouraging readers to appreciate nuances of truth rather than to seek a reductionist version of truth may be what chaos theory--and this book--is all about. For comprehensive public and academic library collections.-- Laurie Tynan, Montgomery Cty.
Norristown P.L., Pa.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Publication date: 1990
• ISBN 10: 0060916966
• ISBN 13: 9780060916961
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 224