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

Gell-Mann, Murray

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0716725819 ISBN 13: 9780716725817

Publisher: W H Freeman & Co, 1994

Synopsis

From one of the architects of the new science of simplicity and complexity comes a highly personal, unifying vision of the natural world.

About this title

About the Author

Murray Gell-Mann is Robert Andrews Millikan Professor Emeritus of Theoretical Physics at the California Institute of Technology.

Reviews

In this sweeping synthesis, Nobel Prize-winning physicist Gell-Mann ponders the universe's mix of simplicity and complexity, regularity and randomness, as he ranges from quarks (the fundamental subatomic particles which he discovered) to complex adaptive systems like bacteria developing resistance to antibiotics, mobile robots, jaguars, and people interacting with and learning from their environment. Along with often technical chapters on information theory, time, biological evolution and the workings of the subatomic zoo of particles, Gell-Mann devotes special attention to superstring theory, the first viable candidate in physicists' search for a grand unified theory encompassing all the elementary particles and forces. Stressing the urgent need to control population and to preserve biological and cultural diversity, he advocates a multidisciplinary research agenda geared toward a sustainable future for the human race and the biosphere. $50,000 ad/promo; author tour.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Proposition: Gell-Mann is a polymath. Polymaths can write about everything with authority. Well almost. The Nobel laureate in physics who coined ``quark'' and developed the ``standard model'' of particle physics continues to explore unified theories at the subatomic level of ``simplicity,'' so to speak. But here his concern is to make the leap to ``complex adaptive systems''--which means you, me, the jaguar, entire societies, and computers that can learn, etc. The result is a wide- ranging book, reflecting a mind that has never ceased to be curious and that has been able to indulge that curiosity through travel and contact with experts from diverse fields. Thus, the book opens with a description of his close encounter with a jaguarundi--a wild cat- -in the Guatemalan rain forest surrounding the Mayan ruins at Tikal. The moment was something of an epiphany: Gell-Mann perceived that out of the simple and uniform emerge the complex and individual--the organism or system with a history, able to interact with the environment. The book plays out this theme in chapters that move from quarks and superstring theory to biological evolution, language development, culture, consciousness, creativity, and the present world ecological dilemmas. Along the way, the author offers introductions to theoretical constructs like measures of complexity, randomness, and depth; and he gives discourses on entropy and the arrow of time. All in all, this is a wonderfully heady experience. It is not particle physics made easy; it is an insight into the mind of an idealist and theorist--and polymath--whose company is a pleasure to share. -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Gell-Mann, a Nobel Prize-winning theoretical physicist and a pioneer in the science of complexity, here examines that important concept, focusing on complex adaptive systems. Such systems are capable of learning and are able to adapt or evolve successfully. The intricate processes used by a child to learn a language, for example, constitute a complex adaptive system, as do the processes used by bacteria to develop resistance to drugs. These systems provide a context or framework for a stimulating discussion of quantum mechanics and the unified theory. Gell-Mann also explores topics such as natural selection, species diversity, and the evolution of human culture in relation to complex adaptive systems. While the topics are technical in nature, Gell-Mann's presentation is clear and will be readily understood by scholars and informed lay readers. Recommended for academic and larger public libraries.
Donald G. Frank, Harvard Univ., Cambridge, Mass.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: W H Freeman & Co
• Publication date: 1994
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0716725819
• ISBN 13: 9780716725817
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 392