The Computational Beauty of Nature: Computer Explorations of Fractals, Chaos, Complex Systems, and Adaptation (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"This is a wonderful book. The author lucidly describes the computational beauty of nature from four different perspectives: `Computer Explorations,' `Chaos,'‘Complex Systems,' and `Adaptation,'... Using all four approaches, Flake not only clearly describes nature, but also presents the same phenomena with each approach. This strategy gives the reader a very broad-based educational experience and promotes critical thinking. Without such a presentation, explaining models that purport to describe `nature' can be quite intimidating. Flexibility is another major plus of this publication: Readers may skip a portion of any section or even an entire section without loss of continuity... reading this awe-inspiring book will be a colorful experience for the mind." -- Jason R. Taylor, SB&F, May/June 1999

"This book is a delight."
—Barak Pearlmutter, University of New Mexico

"This delightful book illustrates beautifully the paradigm shift in physics from writing equations and solving them to computer modeling and experimentation."
—Greg Chaitin, author of The Limits of Mathematics

Product Description

"This book is a delight." -- Barak Pearlmutter, University of New Mexico

"This delightful book illustrates beautifully the paradigm shift in physics from writing equations and solving them to computer modeling and experimentation." -- Greg Chaitin, author of The Limits of Mathematics

"Simulation," writes Gary Flake in his preface, "becomes a form of experimentation in a universe of theories. The primary purpose of this book is to celebrate this fact."

In this book, Gary William Flake develops in depth the simple idea that recurrent rules can produce rich and complicated behaviors. Distinguishing "agents" (e.g., molecules, cells, animals, and species) from their interactions (e.g., chemical reactions, immune system responses, sexual reproduction, and evolution), Flake argues that it is the computational properties of interactions that account for much of what we think of as "beautiful" and "interesting." From this basic thesis, Flake explores what he considers to be today's four most interesting computational topics: fractals, chaos, complex systems, and adaptation.

Each of the book's parts can be read independently, enabling even the casual reader to understand and work with the basic equations and programs. Yet the parts are bound together by the theme of the computer as a laboratory and a metaphor for understanding the universe. The inspired reader will experiment further with the ideas presented to create fractal landscapes, chaotic systems, artificial life forms, genetic algorithms, and artificial neural networks.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 492 pages
• Publisher: The MIT Press; 1 edition (July 10, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0262062003
• ISBN-13: 978-0262062008
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 8.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,637,527 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Every page will make you think..., September 26, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Computational Beauty of Nature: Computer Explorations of Fractals, Chaos, Complex Systems, and Adaptation (Paperback)

I have to strongly disagree with the previous reviewer ("A reader from USA"). While this book covers a tremendous amount of material (over 500 pages, I think), the author manages to give you the intuitive explanation, the meaty equations underneath, figures and text to explain every part of the equations, and source code for simulations. I know of no other book that explains things so thoroughly.

To be honest, this is a book that will make you think at every page. But you can't read this book without thinking. If you are a good match for this book, you will use it for years. It is complex, subtle, beautiful, and intricate.

If you really need more information, type in the author's name or the book title into yahoo. That will take you to the web page. There, you can read book excerpts, reviews, and the glossary. Then make your own decision.

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An instant classic, October 31, 1999

By A Customer

Over the years I have read many books on artificial life, complex systems, and computer science. Quite simply, this book is best that I have ever seen. It is easy and fun to read because Flake has a casual and pleasant writing style. Yet it still manages to be true to all of the topics covered. In fact, all of the equations that are required to understand the topics are given, but Flake gives you the intuition that you need to understand them by giving many figures, metaphors, and analogies.

Plus, the source code and images are just spectacular.

I consider this book to be as important as Hofstaders "Goedel, Escher, Bach." So if you buy just one science book this year, this should be it.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bring out the fun and enthusiasm of computing, February 18, 2000

By	Benny Cheung (Toronto, Canada) - See all my reviews

Computing books are divided into immediate needs for professional life and spiritual food for enriching computing life. This book is the second type. Just by reading the preface, you get the sense of pure fun side of computing and the author's noble goal to bring this book to you. Some book's info will only last for a few months but this book will last for a long time in your computing life.

Every chapter is filled with inspiration. The author has carefully crafted a program for every chapter for you to enjoy. This reading and playing style fits the topic greatly. Although you will still see some math notations (some are hard to follow), I tried hard to follow and enjoy the beauty in the notation and mathematical side of the story.

If you go to the book's website, you can download the source code (including someone port the software to Java source code). I find the Java demo is better to run.