Customer Reviews

Chaos in Dynamical Systems

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
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An excellent text that is written in a very understandable and careful style. It gives the readers a good grasp of the fundamentals by emphasizing main ideas instead of harping on technical definitions. The bibliography at the end of the book is also a good source for readers who want to delve further into the technical literature.

A good introduction to chaos in dynamical systems for physicists. The emphasis is not on time-series analysis or nonlinear systems, but chaos in "physical" systems (in the sense of applications in physics). A good reading for undergrads in physics and maths. One of the best starters for getting deeper into chaos theory...

Ott gives a very clear description of the concept of chaos or chaotic behaviour in a dynamical system of equations. Where often these equations are nonlinear. While containing rigour, the text proceeds at a pace suitable for a non-mathematician in the physical sciences. In other words, it is not at a very formal level, like the epsilon-delta approach to teaching calculus. The concepts are also backed by well drawn diagrams, that illustrate key points.

The book does not have the lovely diagrams of Julia sets and fractals, that you often see in other books on this subject. Those are certainly pretty and useful. But Ott's book concentrates on the ideas.

I can only echo the comments made by other reviewers: excellent, well-paced introduction that focuses on the meat of the subject and leaves out all the pretty-picture stuff. Suitably pitched at non-mathematicians who are drawn to this fascinating subject, it eschews the formal theorem-proof format and carefully explains concepts, then applies them. If you are scientifically literate, I highly recommend this textbook. Genuinely useful.

The book is a good introduction to chaos and the new edition has a chapter on synchronization that is a good review of the literature

The best book on chaos in Dynamical Systems for physicists: clear, well written, contains the right things and does not waste time treating less necessary sections on the subject. Particularly valuable is the part on Entropy, Information and strange attractors. A good choice is to use it together with V.I. Arnold's CM. Contains also a final part on connections between QM and chaos.