Chaos: The Making of a New Science - Hardcover

Gleick, James

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0670811785 ISBN 13: 9780670811786

Publisher: Viking Adult, 1987

Examines the new science of chaos--a scientific revolution that is dramatically altering established perceptions and understandings of the world--and reveals a new way of seeing order and pattern in the universe

Review:

Few writers distinguish themselves by their ability to write about complicated, even obscure topics clearly and engagingly. James Gleick, a former science writer for the New York Times, resides in this exclusive category. In Chaos, he takes on the job of depicting the first years of the study of chaos--the seemingly random patterns that characterize many natural phenomena.

This is not a purely technical book. Instead, it focuses as much on the scientists studying chaos as on the chaos itself. In the pages of Gleick's book, the reader meets dozens of extraordinary and eccentric people. For instance, Mitchell Feigenbaum, who constructed and regulated his life by a 26-hour clock and watched his waking hours come in and out of phase with those of his coworkers at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

As for chaos itself, Gleick does an outstanding job of explaining the thought processes and investigative techniques that researchers bring to bear on chaos problems. Rather than attempt to explain Julia sets, Lorenz attractors, and the Mandelbrot Set with gigantically complicated equations, Chaos relies on sketches, photographs, and Gleick's wonderful descriptive prose.

From the Publisher:

Read by Michael Jackson (the radio host).

• Publisher: Viking Adult
• Publication date: 1987
• ISBN 10: 0670811785
• ISBN 13: 9780670811786
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 360