A valuable companion to confusion, though it’s not without a few tangles of its own.
The world is complicated and getting more so. Or, as Miller (Economics and Social Sciences/Carnegie Mellon Univ.; co-author: Complex Adaptive Systems, 2007) puts it, more cheerfully, “complexity abounds.”
Yes, complexity does abound, for which reason scientists have given a great deal of attention to chaos, complex systems, networking, unintended consequences, and all the other pursuits that come into play when looking at things that have many moving parts. Take the stock market, for instance: even though the market is set to react at the merest hint of a trigger, investors hate uncertainty, which means that panicky behavior is almost built into the system, with "unfortunate feedback loops that [destine it] to fail." The author considers mere randomness as a central factor in complex systems, contending with which he memorably calls “discovery on rugged landscapes.” Every mountaineer knows that a clear view ahead does not mean an easy path, and that’s just so in the case of complex systems, be the task at hand planning airline schedules or evaluating investment possibilities. On that note, Miller praises the supply and demand diagram as “one of those rare and remarkable scientific illustrations that take a complex reality and summarize it in a simple, valuable way.” Competitive equilibrium, quorum levels that satisfice, decentralized decision-making: Miller offers a vigorous survey of the tools, techniques, and ideas underlying complex systems and their study. As he optimistically observes, though earlier generations of scholars despaired of finding order in all the chaos, “complexity is an aspect of nature that is amenable to scientific analysis, understanding, and perhaps even control.” Miller’s explication throughout is clear, though he’s dealing with some pretty arcane stuff, and it helps to have some background in economics, probability, and especially game theory—in short, to have prepared your own mental complex system to handle this thoroughly engaging variable.
A valuable companion to confusion, though it’s not without a few tangles of its own.Pub Date: Jan. 5, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-465-05569-2
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Basic Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2015
A quirky wonder of a book.
A Peabody Award–winning NPR science reporter chronicles the life of a turn-of-the-century scientist and how her quest led to significant revelations about the meaning of order, chaos, and her own existence.
Miller began doing research on David Starr Jordan (1851-1931) to understand how he had managed to carry on after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake destroyed his work. A taxonomist who is credited with discovering “a full fifth of fish known to man in his day,” Jordan had amassed an unparalleled collection of ichthyological specimens. Gathering up all the fish he could save, Jordan sewed the nameplates that had been on the destroyed jars directly onto the fish. His perseverance intrigued the author, who also discusses the struggles she underwent after her affair with a woman ended a heterosexual relationship. Born into an upstate New York farm family, Jordan attended Cornell and then became an itinerant scholar and field researcher until he landed at Indiana University, where his first ichthyological collection was destroyed by lightning. In between this catastrophe and others involving family members’ deaths, he reconstructed his collection. Later, he was appointed as the founding president of Stanford, where he evolved into a Machiavellian figure who trampled on colleagues and sang the praises of eugenics. Miller concludes that Jordan displayed the characteristics of someone who relied on “positive illusions” to rebound from disaster and that his stand on eugenics came from a belief in “a divine hierarchy from bacteria to humans that point[ed]…toward better.” Considering recent research that negates biological hierarchies, the author then suggests that Jordan’s beloved taxonomic category—fish—does not exist. Part biography, part science report, and part meditation on how the chaos that caused Miller’s existential misery could also bring self-acceptance and a loving wife, this unique book is an ingenious celebration of diversity and the mysterious order that underlies all existence.
A quirky wonder of a book.Pub Date: April 14, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5011-6027-1
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 1, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2020
An intriguing meditation on the nature of the universe and our attempts to understand it that should appeal to both...
Italian theoretical physicist Rovelli (General Relativity: The Most Beautiful of Theories, 2015, etc.) shares his thoughts on the broader scientific and philosophical implications of the great revolution that has taken place over the past century.
These seven lessons, which first appeared as articles in the Sunday supplement of the Italian newspaper Sole 24 Ore, are addressed to readers with little knowledge of physics. In less than 100 pages, the author, who teaches physics in both France and the United States, cogently covers the great accomplishments of the past and the open questions still baffling physicists today. In the first lesson, he focuses on Einstein's theory of general relativity. He describes Einstein's recognition that gravity "is not diffused through space [but] is that space itself" as "a stroke of pure genius." In the second lesson, Rovelli deals with the puzzling features of quantum physics that challenge our picture of reality. In the remaining sections, the author introduces the constant fluctuations of atoms, the granular nature of space, and more. "It is hardly surprising that there are more things in heaven and earth, dear reader, than have been dreamed of in our philosophy—or in our physics,” he writes. Rovelli also discusses the issues raised in loop quantum gravity, a theory that he co-developed. These issues lead to his extraordinary claim that the passage of time is not fundamental but rather derived from the granular nature of space. The author suggests that there have been two separate pathways throughout human history: mythology and the accumulation of knowledge through observation. He believes that scientists today share the same curiosity about nature exhibited by early man.
An intriguing meditation on the nature of the universe and our attempts to understand it that should appeal to both scientists and general readers.Pub Date: March 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-399-18441-3
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Riverhead
Review Posted Online: Dec. 7, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2015
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