Chaos: Making a New Science (Paperback)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

“ Fascinating . . . almost every paragraph contains a jolt.”
—The New York Times

“ Taut and exciting . . . a fascinating illustration of how the pattern of science changes.”
—The New York Times Book Review

“ Highly entertaining . . . a startling look at newly discovered universal laws.”
—Chicago Tribune

Product Description

The twentieth-anniversary edition of the million-copy-plus Bestseller

THIS EDITION of James Gleick’s groundbreaking bestseller introduces to a whole new readership the story of one of the most significant waves of scientific knowledge in our time. By focusing on the key figures whose genius converged to chart an innovative direction for science, Gleick makes the story of chaos theory not only fascinating but also accessible, and opens our eyes to a surprising new view of the universe.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics); Anv Rep edition (August 26, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0143113453
• ISBN-13: 978-0143113454
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #23,792 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #5 in	Books > Science > Physics > System Theory
  #5 in	Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Physics > System Theory
  #7 in	Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Mathematics > Chaos & Systems

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another excellent book for non-experts, December 8, 2008

By	Paul Stevenson "Linguist" (Silver Spring, Maryland, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I am not a hard scientist, but I like to have some idea of what is going on in those fields. Books like this one are ideal for people such as me. This book tackles the fascinating field of Chaos Theory. It turns out that certain patterns recur over and over in many diverse areas of the universe, whether it is the patterning of galaxies in clusters or the price of cotton.

Specialists working in many fields independently discovered curious patterns, and eventually, starting mainly in the 1970's, they became aware of each others' work. This book takes physics as the field on which it focuses, but it mentions many others. Since some of these fields involve conscious human decision making (especially economics), I have begun to wonder whether I can find comparable patterns in languages, my own specialty.

There are many reviews of a previous printing of this book: Chaos: Making a New Science, so you can go there to check them out. Other books useful to non-specialists interested in the history of and current research in the hard sciences are The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time, and the Texture of Reality, A Briefer History of Time and Electric Universe: How Electricity Switched on the Modern World.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Insightful but tedious, March 15, 2009

By	Mark K McKinney (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews

Chaos: Making a New Science is intrinsically a bunch of short essays based on the author's research into a number of Chaos experiments and the scientists performing them. One after another with nothing tying them into some sort of progression or main point. Still, many of the stories were very interesting and thought provoking. Some even included insightful tidbits about the inspirations or influences that guided the scientists. But overall it was a tedious read with no real conclusion other than this theory can mathematically describe many seemingly random events.