The Collapse of Chaos: 2discovering Simplicity in a Complex World

Jack Cohen is a biologist and Ian Stewart is a mathematician. It is interesting to see the impact of chaos theory and complexity theory to their specialized areas. This book represents thoughts beyond the new science made popular by James Gleick in his far reaching book Chaos: Making a New Science, in which his description of Edward Lorenz's notion of Butterfly Effect dramatically altered the perception of many people from a orderly world to a chaotic world. The overwhelmingly numerous occurring phenomenon of chaos in nature was brought to the attention of the scientific circle. Chaos was found to be actually complexity beyond the comprehension of our mind but there is also naturally emerging simplicity out of the complexity. The collapse of chaos is the path of the development of our thinking from chaos/complexity towards simplicity. The opening of the book presents the intertwining phenomenon of complexity and simplicity. The first half of the book is devoted to explaining the current reductionist paradigm by which cosmology, evolution and human intelligence are the consequences of lower level and simpler theories of quantum mechanics, chemistry and the genetic code. The content of the chapters on prevailing science is amazingly rich. It gives a concise and clear description of the foundation of modern science. Just these few chapters alone, before examining the authors' arguments on the collapse of chaos, make the money spent on the book worth. On physics, it is Newton's laws of motion and gravity, Einstein's theory of relativity and also the basis of quantum mechanics, explaining in their own way the cosmos starting from the Big Bang and all the way down to atoms and sub-atomic matter. On chemistry, it is Mendeleev's periodic table, supplemented by the explanation of electron shells, and also the versatility of the carbon atom which make up the complex hydrocarbon molecules: the origin of life. On evolution, it's Darwin's natural selection, DNA and the genetic code, and in particular the interaction between genes and the environment. These are strong illustrations of the complexity around us. The simple rules from our discovery of the laws of nature do not necessarily and adequately explain all the observed occurrences of natural phenomenon. We are therefore living in a chaotic world full of events we do not understand, but we choose to explain a very small proportion of the chanced events which happen to fit our perceived laws. Science explains complexities as the interaction of a huge quantity of possibilities by finding simple causes which could produce a proportion of the predictable complex effects, and call them the laws of nature. The result is used to explain predicted large-scale simplicities observed, among the complexities. We think that the laws of nature represent the underlying simplicities, and therefore these simple causes produce simple effects, despite complexities involved. However, we ignore the reality that our laws

I loved this book. I have never seen such a huge compilation of ideas from so many different topics compiled into one place. Not only that, but all the topics interlink to show the obvious as well as subtle connections. I especially like the fact that throughout the book, the authors manage to show numerous points of view, but without trying to force the reader to fall into any specific belief. I'll admit that not all the ideas are original in this book, but that fact is even stated within the book. For a second-year chemical engineering major such as myself, this was a real inspiration for thinking "out of the box", and really made me think about some of the "knowns" tought in science. A deffinite must. I have several friends in line to borrow this book already!

The title of this book is slightly misleading, as it implies it is about chaos, complexity and simplicity.In fact the first half of the book is a guided tour of biology, chemisty and physics. Covering how these great sciences got where they are today, from Newton to Darwin, DNA to the lattice structure of diamonds.The second half then presents a new way to look at science. Rather then delving inside something to find underlying rules, we should view things in context.For example, traditionally the law of gravity is seen as the underlying principle that explains planetary motion. Cohen and Stewart argue that it is just a rule (of thumb?) that fits the facts, and that there is no LAW of gravity.It seems a subtle distinction, but on reading this book it is quite an important one, and it has certainly given me a different view of the world.Very intelligent and always interesting, this book is written for the layman and is always at pains to explains matters thoroughly and use every possible analogy to help get ideas across.This book is worth twice the money for the first half alone - a perfect primer for those interested in science, but who dont want to get technical. Cohen and Stewart are high level experts in their respective fields, and yet they write simply and lucidly, resulting in a desire to read further.

In their preface, Jack Cohen and Ian Stewart describe this book as "a streamlined introduction to the central preoccupations of modern science." The concepts of chaos, complexity, and simplicity are central to the book; they are presented without jargon and with marvelous analogies and examples. Much of the discussion of complexity focuses on life, especially human life and human intelligence. An especially useful concept they introduce is the "brain pun," the human brain's tendency to see similarity (bird wings and bat wings) and infer causality or relationship. This book is remarkable in how much it teaches the intelligent layperson. For example, frog DNA is more complicated than ours because it incorporates so many instructions to the tadpole on how to mature under a wide range of temperature conditions. Human embryos don't need an instruction book with a huge chapter entitled "Coping with Temperature Changes," because we initially grow in the marvelously temperature-controlled environment of the womb. Did you know that? I didn't. Speaking of instruction books - Cohen and Stewart clearly show that the instruction book metaphor for DNA is flawed. Only a fraction of human DNA is meaningful; the rest is "junk." (Same for other species - it's life, not just us.) But junk DNA replicates, too. Also, for most species in the real world, a wide variety of gene patterns produce pretty much the same animal. Did you know any of this? I didn't. This is an ideal book for the intelligent layperson whose taste runs to the "readable but accurate." At 443 pages plus notes in the paperback version, it's plenty long enough for a coast-to-coast flight, with some left over for the next day. Highly recommended; I can't wait to pass it on to friends.

If you are one of those who used to read Asimov's or Arthur C. Clarke's "science fact" books get this book. You will especially enjoy it if you have an interest in evolution and/or to see the "tunnel vision" mistakes of people who are generally regarded as geniuses. I learned more in reading this book than ANY non classroom textbook and more than most classroom texts. And it's as easy to read as anything could be, considering the subject matter. You should have some background in science, or it might be a little tough to get through. All in all a great book.