Posted by
Michael Gizzi on
URL: http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/RE-Books-on-Complexity-tp520503p520505.html
Hello all,
I have been lurking on the list since Tom Johnson suggested I join (sometime
this fall I hope to get down from Grand Junction, Colorado to attend one of
your Friday sessions), but I have been enjoying this thread!
I think Roger's list from the Summer Internship/Mentorship program is a good
one.
A few resources to look at:
1) In my college/high school class on complexity I have students read
Barabasi's LINKED, Johnson's EMERGENCE, and Stephen Levy's ARTIFICIAL LIFE,
which is very good, providing discussions of Wolfram 1D-CAs, The game of
life, Reynold's Boids, and GAs, among other topics. I also lecture from
Holland's HIDDEN ORDER, his book EMERGENCE (on modeling) and from Gladwell's
TIPPING POINT.
2) I think the intro to Axelrod's THE COMPLEXITY OF COOPERATION is excellent
as an introduction to agent-based modeling purposes. Axelrod's website
provides a PDF to a more recent version of the same article (Simulation for
the Social Scientist). He also links to a new web page he put together with
Leigh Testfasion on "On-Line Guide for Newcomers to Agent-Based Modeling in
the Social Sciences" - Axelrod's home page is at
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~axe/
3) This summer my colleague in Florida, Tom Lairson put together a nice list
of readings for faculty to introduce them to agent-based modeling in
anticipation of a summer workshop I led for them on NetLogo. The list is at
http://web.rollins.edu/~tlairson/complex/reading.html and has some good
stuff. An earlier version of the same list is on my website,
http://www.modelingcomplexity.net
4) These are all good resources, but I agree that we still need the one
"killer app" so to speak, of a book which captures complexity for the
general reader, with enough depth to keep those of us who are hooked on it
satisfied, but not so filled with equations that the new-comer is not scared
off. Obviously, somebody needs to write such a book! Maybe, someday...
Just some thoughts...
Mike
===================
Michael C Gizzi, Ph.D.
Director, Institute for Modeling Complexity
and Associate Professor of Political Science
Mesa State College
Bishop Campus
2508 Blichman Avenue
Grand Junction, CO 81505
===================
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: /pipermail/friam_redfish.com/attachments/20050911/eedb3959/attachment.htm