| Description |
xiii, 212 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color) ; 24 cm |
| Contents |
Ch. 1. Complexity and Criticality -- Ch. 2. The Discovery of Self-Organized Criticality -- Ch. 3. The Sandpile Paradigm -- Ch. 4. Real Sandpiles and Landscape Formation -- Ch. 5. Earthquakes, Starquakes, and Solar Flares -- Ch. 6. The "Game of Life": Complexity Is Criticality -- Ch. 7. Is Life a Self-Organized Critical Phenomenon? -- Ch. 8. Mass Extinctions and Punctuated Equilibria in a Simple Model of Evolution -- Ch. 9. Theory of the Punctuated Equilibrium Model -- Ch. 10. The Brain -- Ch. 11. On Economics and Traffic Jams |
| Summary |
This is an acclaimed book intended for the general reader who is interested in science. The author is a physicist who is well-known for his development of the property called "self-organized criticality", a property or phenomenon that lies at the heart of large dynamical systems. It can be used to analyse systems that are complicated, and which are part of the new science of complexity. It is a unifying concept that can be used to study phenomena in fields as diverse as economics, astronomy, the earth sciences, and physics. The author discusses his discovery of self-organized criticality; its relation to the world of classical physics; computer simulations and experiments which aid scientists' understanding of the property; and the relation of the subject to popular areas such as fractal geometry and power laws; cellular automata, and a wide range of practical applications |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages [199]-205) and index |
| Notes |
Print version record |
| Subject |
Complexity (Philosophy)
|
|
Critical phenomena (Physics)
|
|
Physics -- Philosophy.
|
| LC no. |
96016845 |
| ISBN |
0387947914 (hardcover : alk. paper) |
|
038798738X (paperback) |
|
