The Recursive Universe: Cosmic Complexity and the Limits of Scientific Knowledge

Although this book was written in the 80's it is still up to date as it covers timeless aspects of physics. The book alternates chapters on Conway's Game of Life with chapters on physics. There is a lot of clearly explained chapters on information theory including Maxwell's Demon and the solution to that paradox. Also there is information on what happened at the beginning of the universe and what will happen at the end of the universe. There is also a mini biography of Von Neumann which I found very interesting. Finally, there is a good bibliography of books some of which are still current. I have read several books on this kind of stuff but this is probably the clearest book I have read, especially the part on information theory.

I read most of this book (library copy) many years ago and one set of concepts had a great impact: The clear explanation of the deep epistemologiacal implications of Leo Szilard's 1929 groundbreaking paper analyzing Maxwell's Demon and the foundations of observational information. I can't recall all the details but the conclusions were clear and startling. It goes much deeper than Heisenberg's uncertainty principle in outlining the fundamental limits of observation and thus empirical/scientific knowledge. Szilard's results would even apply in a "classical" universe. I have yet to see this fully explicated in philosophy departments or other "popular" texts, etc. Recommended as a very good, basic introduction to information and communication theory. Also, try anything by Greg Chaitin for purely mathematical limits to information and [analytic?] knowledge.

I've given many copies of this book to my students--the ones who have particular promise, the ones who ask questions about things. Like the question that Poundstone asks in the book: where did all this complex stuff come from. Of all the complexity literature--Arthur, Kaufman, et al--I've found this the most meaningful. And the use of the Game of Life to illustrate the emergence of the complex is beautifully done.

A wonderful journey through key concepts in information theory using Conway's "Life" program as a vehicle. This book is a celebration of what is possible when natural law is applied to a random system, and demonstrates the necessity of limits on systems. Highly recommended for anyone interested in entropy, extreme sensitivity to initial conditions, or cellular automata. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.