Cycles the Science of Prediction

Cycles: The Science of Prediction is Edward R. Dewey and Edwin F. Dakin's classic study of recurring patterns in economics, markets, nature, and human affairs. Written from the perspective of a researcher convinced that many events dismissed as random may instead follow measurable rhythms, the book examines cycles in commodity prices, business activity, weather, agriculture, biology, and social behaviour, offering a systematic argument for prediction through careful observation of repeated patterns.

Complete with more than 150 graphs and charts, this edition preserves the book's original data-rich approach, showing how Dewey and Dakin sought to identify, compare, and interpret recurring movements across very different fields of inquiry. Part economics, part statistical investigation, and part metaphysical speculation about order beneath apparent chance, Cycles: The Science of Prediction remains a significant work for readers interested in forecasting, business cycles, market history, natural rhythms, statistical patterns, and the long tradition of attempting to find intelligible structure in human and natural events.

Edward R. Dewey was an American economist and researcher best known for his work on recurring cycles in economics, markets, natural phenomena, and social behaviour. After serving as Chief Economic Analyst for the United States Department of Commerce during the Depression era, Dewey became increasingly interested in whether repeated rhythms could be detected beneath apparently irregular events. In 1941 he founded the Foundation for the Study of Cycles, a research organisation devoted to the investigation of periodic patterns across the economy, science, nature, and the arts.

Edwin F. Dakin was an American writer, researcher, and collaborator whose work on Cycles: The Science of Prediction helped present Dewey's cycle research in a broad, readable form. His role in the book is especially important because the volume does not merely catalogue data; it argues for the wider significance of recurring patterns across economics, markets, weather, agriculture, biology, and social history. Together, Dewey and Dakin produced a book that remains useful to readers interested in forecasting, business cycles, statistical recurrence, market history, and the search for order beneath apparent chance.