Owen -
Yeah, I just had to deal with this problem -- I ended up choosing
for my Nonlinear Systems and Chaos class:
Texts: The required texts for the class are:
Chaos: Making a New Science, James Gleick
Mathematics and the Unexpected, Ivar Ekeland
The Computational Beauty of Nature, Gary Flake
It will be interesting to see how it goes . . .
tom
On Sep 10, 2005, at 7:07 PM, Owen Densmore wrote:
> Once again I've been asked by a very lively and bright person to
> suggest readings on Complexity. And I find it pretty hard to do.
>
> If the topic were Chaos instead, it'd be a snap: James Gleick's
> book and one or another of the really great math books showing how
> to quantify and manage chaos would be pretty clear choices.
>
> But complexity is all over the place. Holland's books are not all
> that gripping. The Waldrop history of SFI is probably reasonable
> although dated. Stu's "At Home in the Universe" is wonderful for
> us but a bit hard going for beginners, and not particularly
> general. I mean, how do you shove modern graph theory, local
> knowledge systems, ABM, emergence, adaption, equilibrium, and so on
> into a couple of books!?
>
> Stephen pointed out a great site of Cosma Shalizi's reviews:
>
http://cscs.umich.edu/~crshalizi/reviews/> .. and particular on Complexity etc:
>
http://cscs.umich.edu/~crshalizi/reviews/subjects/self-
> organization.html
> .. while discussing Philip Ball's The Self-Made Tapestry. Cosma
> would consider it a good starting point apparently. And if you've
> met him, that is great praise indeed!
>
> Any and all suggestions appreciated!
>
> -- Owen
>
> Owen Densmore -
http://backspaces.net -
http://redfish.com - http://
> friam.org
>
>
>
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