Patterns In The Sand: Computers, Complexity, And Everyday Life [Paperback]

Terry Bossomaier (Author), David Green (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 14, 1999

Until recently, science has made progress by breaking large systems down into smaller and simpler parts, studying and explaining how these parts operate, and putting them back together again. Although this ”reductionist” approach works amazingly well when we study the atom or the function of a single gene, it hits a brick wall when it comes to vastly complex systems like the brain, or the weather, or the ecosphere. Such systems are just too complicated to yield their secrets to the reductionist approach.The new science of complexity, one of the twentieth centuries greatest contributions to our comprehension of nature, is concerned with treating vastly complicated systems, like the biosphere or the Internet, as holistic systems. Patterns in the Sand discusses this new scientific paradigm that treats life as a natural computation, and shows how this approach translates into ways of dealing with complexity in real life. It shows, for example, how key ideas, such as chaos, criticality, and emergent phenomena, helps us to understand how ants build their nests, how the brain works, why we enact simple routines like getting up in the morning and going to work, and why accidents happen.Using such everyday phenomena as illustrations, Bossomaier and Green take us from the most basic function of the simple Turing computer through the vast interrelationships of the earth’s biota, right up to the search for life on other planets, while providing a new understanding of the complicated, complex, world around us.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Patterns in the Sand introduces [the] emerging field [of complexity] and provides examples of its real-world applications." -- Science News

About the Author

Terry Bossomaier and David Green are leading international researchers who have made important contributions to the science of complexity and have both published several technical books in the area. Professor Bossomaier’s research focuses on neural computation and Professor Green’s on environmental information. Terry Bossomaier and David Green are leading international researchers who have made important contributions to the science of complexity and have both published several technical books in the area. Professor Bossomaier’s research focuses on neural computation and Professor Green’s on environmental information.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books; New edition edition (September 14, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0738201723
• ISBN-13: 978-0738201726
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 1.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,166,641 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Rather frustrating book, needs to go deeper, June 29, 2005

By 

Andrew Delin (Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Patterns In The Sand: Computers, Complexity, And Everyday Life (Paperback)

What a frustrating book - it never seems to get to the point!

I can't understand why the authors feel it's okay to write at such a high level about chaos and complexity, without delving into their subject in any depth. For example, they open with the contribution of Alan Turing and his Turing machine but they don't give enough detail for you to appreciate why this is important. Sadly this happens again and again in this book. I was often left thinking, "What is the significance of this?" as they skipped from one idea to the next in a disjointed manner. They tend to introduce an idea or individual contributor, mention too briefly what they did and then move on.

It's a bit like reading lots of road signs on the freeway at speed: you can't really claim you've visited those places or know what they're about.

The title of the book suggests a much stronger link to computing than is actually achieved. They use a few computing terms (which they don't define) and despite using the term 'algorithm' they don't actually explain many of these.

I felt the authors weren't in touch with their audience. It's quite possible to write a fascinating book that deals with a technical subject despite your audience not have a technical background (e.g. try "Fermat's Last Theorem" by Simon Singh). By contrast, "Patterns in the Sand" avoids depth in its explanations, almost as if to 'spare' its readers, which instead produces a sense of annoyance.

I'm sure their purpose was to introduce the emerging field of chaos and complexity, but in the end I was unconvinced. I will look elsewhere to get more depth and a better read - I was glad to finish this book so I could move onto something else!

The graphics in the book are rather sparse and of poor quality.

I give this book one star because it did remind me about StarLogo, a tool for playing with parallel worlds, and also FRACTINT, a fractal generator. Both are available on the internet.