Customer Reviews

Chaos and Complexity in Astrophysics

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"Very readable, engaging and understandable. Regev offers insights into and explanations of complex concepts and methods by using frameworks familiar to students (particularly of astronomy) on the graduate level. I found that there are a number of typos and misprints. However, the author offers a useful, detailed and up-to-date errata that can be accessed on his site (http://physics.technion.ac.il/~regev/erratum.pdf)."
-Timothy Purcell

I considered adapting it for a graduate class I taught on stability and non-normality. It didn't happened, because eventually I decided to write my own notes in the hope it will prompt me to write my own book on non-linear dynamics (has not happened yet...)

However, I was deeply impressed by this book. It is very clearly written, very thorough yet tractable, and at times witty. Most importantly, some issues I consider subtle, tricky or often overlooked or addressed head-on here, meticulously , scientifically soundly and, astonishingly, in a manner I think is suitable for even first or second year graduate students.

In short, I STRONGLY recommend this book to anybody interested in nonlinear dynamics, in the heavens or on earth...

The book gives the essential details of such areas as bifurcation theory, strange attractors, fractals, and Hamiltonian systems, filling a gap in existing astrophysical literature. Comprehensive descriptions of those topics in astrophysics to which chaos theory has made significant contributions (e.g., the theory of stellar pulsations; dynamics of the solar system) are also included. The fact that the text is essentially self-contained makes it attractive for both graduate students and researchers to use.

a good guide book to the literature in this subject, lots of facts and readable. I have learned plenty.

The book is written very clearly and it explains difficult concepts in a comprehensible way. I enjoyed exploring and learning from it.