Ilya Prigogine, winner of the Nobel Prize in 1977 for his work on the thermodynamics of non-equilibrium systems, makes his ideas accessible to a wide audience in this book, which has engendered massive debate in Europe and America. He and his colleague, Isabelle Stengers, show how the two great themes of classic science, order and chaos, which coexisted uneasily for centuries, are being reconciled in a new and unexpected synthesis.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
82 of 83 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
Prigogine argues persuasively that he has reconciled classical
dynamics with the human conviction that the future cannot be
predicted from a knowledge of initial conditions and differential equations alone.
He draws the reader through his own intellectual odyssey from
classical thermodynamics, through linear nonequilibrium thermodynamics, and finally
to his holy grail of nonlinear nonequilibrium thermodynamics. I suspect he has
identified the quantitative tools that will connect the Human Genome Project to a functional
understanding of cell biology and physiology. Tools capable of dealing with complexity.</br>
If you are a scientist who has followed these disciplines from afar, and who has
wished for a succinct summary that does not shrink from rigor, then acquire this book.
You will chuckle at the constant barbs directed across the English Channel, and you will
learn wonderful things about thermodynamics and thermokinetics.
So few scientific books reveal the authors' insights. Instead, they teem with facts and formulas.
Prigogine and Stengers have bedded physics with philosophy as if they were matchmakers for
an illicit tryst. You will find yourself whispering, "Aha!"
And you will, as I have, wear out your pen with underlining.
I loved Carl Sagan's "Demon Haunted World", but Sagan was speaking to everyman.
Prigogine and Stengers are speaking to scientists in fields outside their own.
They believe they have seen the light, and they want you to see it too. Give them the chance to convince you.
You will not be disappointed.
dynamics with the human conviction that the future cannot be
predicted from a knowledge of initial conditions and differential equations alone.
He draws the reader through his own intellectual odyssey from
classical thermodynamics, through linear nonequilibrium thermodynamics, and finally
to his holy grail of nonlinear nonequilibrium thermodynamics. I suspect he has
identified the quantitative tools that will connect the Human Genome Project to a functional
understanding of cell biology and physiology. Tools capable of dealing with complexity.</br>
If you are a scientist who has followed these disciplines from afar, and who has
wished for a succinct summary that does not shrink from rigor, then acquire this book.
You will chuckle at the constant barbs directed across the English Channel, and you will
learn wonderful things about thermodynamics and thermokinetics.
So few scientific books reveal the authors' insights. Instead, they teem with facts and formulas.
Prigogine and Stengers have bedded physics with philosophy as if they were matchmakers for
an illicit tryst. You will find yourself whispering, "Aha!"
And you will, as I have, wear out your pen with underlining.
I loved Carl Sagan's "Demon Haunted World", but Sagan was speaking to everyman.
Prigogine and Stengers are speaking to scientists in fields outside their own.
They believe they have seen the light, and they want you to see it too. Give them the chance to convince you.
You will not be disappointed.
39 of 40 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This work is one of the classics of the breakthrough period of chaos theory, complex systems, and self-organization theories. Mixing two modes and two cultures it stretches its bow between the nitty-gritty details of dissipative systems, and the history of the relations of the human and natural sciences, from the age of the emergence of thermodynamics to the present. The book has something now routinely filtered from discussion, the early critiques of the Newtonian mindset as it was starting to become dominant. The material on the history of the two cultures would seem to fall on deaf ears these days, and gives the book at depth not often seen in works of this type. Very much worth reading.
19 of 20 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
A thorough study of the history of quantum physics and an exhaustive description of how order emerges from chaos
November 30, 2006
Format:Paperback
Prigogine describes his ideas of how order emerged from a ground of chaos and how the processes of entropy can lead a system open to its environment to evolve greater complexity. He also gives an exposition of the relevance of science to society. Prigogine's Nobel prize-winning models of dissipative structures are difficult to understand but persistent effort will reward the reader. His theories are as applicable to the evolution and expansion of consciousness as to the emergence of life on earth from a relatively simple environment.
42 of 51 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
The whole problem with writing about a book, and especially this one, is that one has to cut a long story short. A story long enough to encompass a fair amount of scientific history - elaborated, if not referenced exhaustively. Not that it is meant to be. Prigogine's journey does not offer to take you by the hand for a guided tour of order, complexity and self-organisation. Rather, it keeps to the spirit of Toffler's introduction, (Was it coincidental that it was the other way round?!) where he talks about the wonderful art of scientific dissection. Order out of chaos, however, is a difficult read for the anyone who has been initiated into the scientific non-fiction. For those who expect the book to be a popular account of concepts in complexity and self-organisation, the intense style and the depth of detail can be exhausting. Like Penrose in the Emperor's New Mind, Prigogine's style is uncompromising. Toffler's introduction is fitting, if only in parts. The book does not offer explanations. Rather, Prigogine prefers to illumate his readers with his keen philosophical bent. It is here that the book triumphs. The effort that has gone into integrating the ideas in the book, the subtle nuances reflecting Prigogine's own views is truly commendable. But then, one should be fairly conversant with the loopholes that science finds itself in. The description of the behaviour of complex systems warrants some mention. The idea of switching between reality and mathematical description does not gel with the rest of the narrative in parts - specially when chemistry is the running example. Well, Prigogine wasn't writing the book with the intention of it being self-contained - and he makes no bones about it.... Read more ›
Format:Hardcover
The ancient wisdom, referring to creation and cosmogenesis, indicates that "out of chaos did order emerge..." and refers to the Akash that we ignorantly call empty space; also to a process of what we call "creative thought" of which we cannot begin to comprehend and simply call "universal mind." This book subtly addresses that "truth". But what science has not yet arrived at, and won't for some many decades, is the knowledge, comprehension and deeper wise understanding of the very difficult "active" esoteric mathematics, or mathematics that does not stop at any one formula, but continues to move, evolve, and constanly change within the basic causal formula just as do fractals continue to change and grow within the original simple parameters of the causal equation; and that the equations of esoteric triadic triganometry, algebra, geometry, etc. of creation are fully interactive and always in motion within the original concepts -- "Universe" and "Creation" that gave rise to numerous secondary and tertiary sud-concepts, ideas, polarized ideals, and thought-seeds. Obviously, such a book could not be written at this limited point in the evolution of the lower concrete human mind (5% developed and requiriung many millenia to advance a lot further). So, considering the forgoing, I see this book as literally the "best we can do" up to this point. It is written to be read, reread and studied. If anyone is aware that meditation is actually an esoteric practice for obtaining clearer knowledge, and not just a peaceful daily lapse of not thinking, then you will comprehend that daily, topic-focused practices can greatly expand your comprehension of such a difficult subject. This book is about the best start that I can recommend for this very deep subject that reaches far, far beyond the physical!
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Clean
A little bit older copy than what I expected. It's clean and intact but could have been a newer one.
Published 4 months ago by Sabri Gokmen
3.0 out of 5 stars
Islands of order from pages of chaos
The book is not an easy read. I found it quite disorganized (chaotic, if you will), and only by going through it a second time--indexing all the text that I highlighted--did I find... Read more
Published 5 months ago by U Dream
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Book is as amazing as I expected
I am currently reading the book, up to this point it is very interesting, the information introduced seems revolutionary, I want to go through the whole book to get the bigger... Read more
Published 9 months ago by amh
5.0 out of 5 stars
complex systems equals life
as a biologist, i find this book filled with extremely good concepts to use in biological systems. the foreword alone is useful and i found myself not alone in my questionings... Read more
Published 22 months ago by Jamil Soni Neto
5.0 out of 5 stars
Greater than Newton
Prigogine (and the philosopher and chemist Isabelle Stengers) I met in Order out of Chaos (1984, French original La nouvelle alliance 1979) and later in many other books. Read more
Published on August 15, 2009 by Erland.Lagerroth
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