Nonlinear Dynamics and Chaos

Were all Math books written like this, the number of students majoring in Math, Physics, etc. would rise considerably. The presentation is clear, lucid and comprehensive. Each concept is introduced with its motivating phenomena and the mathematical treatment is logical and elegant with many worked examples. This is one of those rare Math books that "begin at the beginning", yet go on to develop the concepts to a point useful even to grad students who want a review of basics before plunging into more advanced material. (If you are looking for more detailed mathematical stuff, I'd suggest Kevorkian's "Multiple Scale and Singular Perturbation Methods" or "Perturbation Methods" by Hinch.) For the benefit of those reviewers who have complained that the mathematics is not rigorous enough, may I point out that the author clearly states the book is an introduction to the topic. I have come across other introductory books using basic differential equations, on similar topics where the material is presented in a disjointed way. Strogatz, however, shows us the inter-relatedness of the broad range of concepts and applications that fall within the title. Therein lies a major strength of this book. Another big plus is that Strogatz presents those intermediate diagrams and results that take us to the final conclusion. Also he interprets the Math en route to the finale. He does not employ the usual "it is apparent that ..." strategy to pole-vault to miracle steps. This approach makes the book a breezy read; a remark not commonly made about advanced Math books!

Basically, if you have a solid foundation in elementary multivariable calculus (calc III) and some aspects of ODEs, and want to know just what's going on with this new 'chaos trend,' and more importantly want to know why 'chaos' is actually useful, then read this book. As one reviewer noted, this book is not mathematically rigorous, and there's a simple reason for this: one can't explain nonlinear phenomena rigorously with just an elementary multivariable calculus backround. To rigorously treat the material in this book, you must have at least some point-set topological backround and have a decently strong real analysis backround (even Strogatz uses concepts from analysis and topology in an elementary way, such as compactness and measure) and even more advanced books that assume such a backround are sometimes less than rigorous (i.e. 'Perko' often says 'it can be shown' rather than showing it himself.) However, the lack of rigor I think is a good thing. Strogatz always nicely indicates 'why something should be true,' which for a beginner will give them a intuition about the subject so that if they gain the backround mentioned above, they can dive farther into this subject by using other advanced books. Finally, this book should be used as a third year undergraduate text. It should not be used as an advanced undergraduate/first year graduate text, since such courses should be more in depth and rigorous.

It is rare that books of this type are both comprehensive and readable. Strogatz has managed to cover a wide range of concepts in significant detail while providing examples to illustrate his major points. The beginning of the text starts of with one dimensional nonlinear systems of first order (like the logistic equation), and Strogatz outlines the typical framework that one uses to analyze such systems. He defines fixed points, illustrates and defines bifurcations, and solidifies every claim with good examples. The text eventually moves to higher order systems with coupled or non-coupled sets of differential equations. For the most part, exercises for the student involve sets of two differential equations that can be linearized using Jacobian methods. Later, Strogatz provides a nicely executed description of fractals and fractal dimension, using examples from the Cantor set and the von Koch curve. The beauty of the book is that it is well written and complete. It even provides some limited solutions to selected exercises in the back. The examples in the book cover a wide range of areas. Mechanical oscillating systems like a mass on a spring, electrical circuits that follow the same equations, laser models that follow a modified logistic equation, and many variations of the Lotka-Volterra model are outlined through examples in the text. The book is a stand-alone text, equally useful as a textbook for an intorductory course or as a reference for someone merely surveying the subject. It deserves the highest rating possible. Edit: 2/28/07 Now with a few years of hindsight, I would say this might have been the best stand alone textbook I had in grad school. This was one of the few books I had where I could teach myself the subject matter by just reading it. It is a great book that takes the mysticism out of a new and growing field.

This book is an excellent introductory graduate level text on nonlinear dynamics for those who wish to understand the basic concepts before seeing the mathematical rigor at the heart of the subject. Strogatz avoids getting caught up in mathematical nuances which often cloud the big picture for non-math students, and thereby clearly impresses upon the reader the essence of nonlinear dynamics, eventually building up to chaos. The examples and problems are truly unique and inspiring. This book is an excellent starting place for someone who knows little or nothing about nonlinear dynamics but has done some basic work with linear differential equations and linear algebra.

It is an absolutely marvelous text. I was looking for a text which introduced nonlinear dynamics and all its interesting applications to professors and scientists whose common background included only 1 year of calculus. All I could find was higher level math books, which for the most part were very boring as they got lost in an orgy of math. This text introduces concepts using an intuitive, graphical approach. The mathematics is rigorous, but boring details are avoided. There are fantastic examples in all areas of science. I have often noted that there are many science texts but far too few good ones. This is a great one.