Chaos: Making a New Science
by James Gleick
List Price:
Our Price: $11.35
You Save: $8.65 (43%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $8.00 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: James GleickEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2008-08-26
ISBN: 0143113453
Number of pages: 384
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Book Reviews of Chaos: Making a New Science
Book Review: An historical introduction to chaos theory
Summary: 5 Stars
This book is the first of its kind, which introduces a new branch of science, the chaos or chaos theory from the historical point of view. This theory is widely applied in the transdisciplinary field of meteorology, mathematics, physics, population biology, cell biology, philosophy, astrophysics, information theory, economics, finance, robotics, and other diverse fields. The author has done a tremendous job of putting this book together with very little mathematics. I found this book highly engaging.
A brief summary of the book is as follows: Chaos physics along with classical and quantum physics are required to fully describe physical reality. Physical laws described by differential equations correspond to deterministic systems. In quantum physics, the Schrödinger equation which describes the continuous time evolution of a system's wave function is deterministic. However, the relationship between a system's wave function and the observable properties of the system is non-deterministic (quantum physical phenomenon). The systems studied in chaos theory are deterministic. In general for a deterministic system, if the initial state of a system were known exactly, then the future state of such a system could be predicted. However, there are many dynamical systems such as weather forecasting that are highly sensitive to initial conditions. This sensitivity referred to as the butterfly effect which suggests that small differences in initial conditions (for example, rounding errors caused by limiting the number of decimals in numerical computation), yield different results, rendering long-term prediction impossible, hence they are called chaotic systems. In short these systems are deterministic; their future behavior is fully determined by their initial conditions, with no random elements involved. But that does not make it predictable, this behavior is known as deterministic chaos or chaos.
It is difficult to determine if a physical system is random or chaotic, because in practice no time series consists of pure 'signal.' There will always be some form of corrupting noise, even if it is present as round-off or truncation error. Thus any real time series, even if mostly deterministic, will contain some randomness. Methods that distinguishes deterministic and stochastic (a process having infinite progression with random variables) processes rely on the fact that a deterministic system always evolves in the same way from a given starting point. Thus, given a time series to test for determinism, one can: Pick a test state; search the time series for a similar or 'nearby' state; and compare their respective time evolutions. Define the error as the difference between the time evolution of the 'test' state and the time evolution of the nearby state. A deterministic system will have an error that either remains small (stable, regular solution) or increases exponentially with time (chaos). A stochastic system will have a randomly distributed error. Thus one can see that chaos is neither purely deterministic nor is it stochastic. Application of chaos into cosmology and quantum physical phenomenon illustrates that chaos theory is indeed an important feature of physical reality which requires further development of this field.
1. Does God Play Dice? The New Mathematics of Chaos
2. Chaos and Nonlinear Dynamics: An Introduction for Scientists and Engineers
History & Philosophy Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in History & Philosophy Books
I Am a Strange Loopby Douglas R. Hofstadter
Basic Books; Published: 2007-03-26; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $4.68
Price in other shops:
The Hedgehog, the Fox, and the Magister's Pox: Mending the Gap Between Science and the Humanitiesby Stephen Jay Gould
Harmony; Published: 2003-04-08; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $4.95
Price in other shops:
A Short History of Nearly Everything: Special Illustrated Editionby Bill Bryson
Broadway; Published: 2010-10-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $18.23
Price in other shops:
Science vs. Religion: What Scientists Really Thinkby Elaine Howard Ecklund
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2010-05-06; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $9.62
Price in other shops:
Chances Are: Adventures in Probabilityby Michael Kaplan, Ellen Kaplan
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 2007-02-27; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.99
Price in other shops:
Newton and the Counterfeiter: The Unknown Detective Career of the World's Greatest Scientistby Thomas Levenson
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; Published: 2009-06-04; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $0.63
Price in other shops:
The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection: The Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life (Penguin Classics)by Charles Darwin
Penguin Classics; Published: 1982-08-26; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.04
Price in other shops:
Crimes Against Logic: Exposing the Bogus Arguments of Politicians, Priests, Journalists, and Other Serial Offendersby Jamie Whyte
McGraw-Hill; Published: 2004-09-12; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.75
Price in other shops:
The Map That Changed the World: William Smith and the Birth of Modern Geology (P.S.)by Simon Winchester
Harper Perennial; Published: 2009-04-28; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.24
Price in other shops:
Evolution: The Triumph of an Ideaby Carl Zimmer
Harper Perennial; Published: 2002-10-08; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.20
Price in other shops:
Similar books summaries and other product reviews
Nonlinear Dynamics And Chaos: With Applications To Physics, Biology, Chemistry, And Engineering (Studies in Nonlinearity)by Steven H. Strogatz
Westview Press; Published: 2001-01-19; Paperback; Book
Best price: $37.53
Price in other shops:
The Unnatural Nature of Science: Why Science Does Not Make (Common) Senseby Lewis Wolpert
Harvard University Press; Published: 2000-04-25; Paperback; Book
Best price: $17.05
Price in other shops:
Simply Complexity: A Clear Guide to Complexity Theoryby Neil Johnson
Oneworld; Published: 2009-10-16; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.48
Price in other shops:
The New World of Mr Tompkins: George Gamow's Classic Mr Tompkins in Paperbackby George Gamow
Cambridge University Press; Published: 2001-08-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $14.99
Price in other shops:
Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynmanby James Gleick
Vintage; Published: 1993-11-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.94
Price in other shops:
Complexity: A Guided Tourby Melanie Mitchell
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2011-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.19
Price in other shops:
Isaac Newtonby James Gleick
Baker and Taylor; Vintage; Published: 2004-06-08; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.99
Price in other shops:
Sync: How Order Emerges From Chaos In the Universe, Nature, and Daily Lifeby Steven H. Strogatz
Hyperion; Published: 2004-04-14; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.98
Price in other shops:
In Search of Schrödinger's Cat: Quantum Physics and Realityby John Gribbin
Bantam Books; Published: 1984-08-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.53
Price in other shops:
The Information: A History, a Theory, a Floodby James Gleick
Pantheon; Published: 2011-03-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $17.40
Price in other shops: