Why did the U.S.S.R. collapse so suddenly after more than half a century as a superpower? What caused the stock market to take a 500-point nosedive in October 1987? How did simple amino acids combine to produce living organisms four billion years ago? To explore the implications of questions like these, researchers from ponytailed grad student to Nobel laureates are challenging old ideas with exciting new insights. Line drawings.
Heinz Pagels
physicist
"The Washington Post"
If you liked "Chaos," you'll love "Complexity." Waldrop creates the most exciting intellectual adventure story of the year.
Douglas R. Hofstadter
author of "Go tel, Esther, Bach"
One comes away from "Complexity" both intellectually excited by ideas and emotionally involved with the people struggling to formulate them. This is a deep tale of science in the making.
"The New York Times Book Review"
Lucidly shows physicists, biologists, computer scientists and economists swapping metaphors and reveling in the sense that epochal discoveries are just around the corner....[Waldrop] has a special talent for relaying the exhilaration of moments of intellectual insight.
"The Washington Post"
If you liked "Chaos, " you'll love "Complexity." Waldrop creates the most exciting intellectual adventure story of the year.
Heinz Pagels
physicist
I am convinced that the nations and people who master the new sciences of complexity will become the economic, cultural, and political superpowers of the next century.
Douglas R. Hofstadter
author of "Gotel, Esther, Bach"
One comes away from "Complexity" both intellectually excited by ideas and emotionally involved with the people struggling to formulate them. This is a deep tale of science in the making.
"The Washington Post"If you liked "Chaos," you'll love "Complexity." Waldrop creates the most exciting intellectual adventure story of the year.
Heinz PagelsphysicistI am convinced that the nations and people who master the new sciences of complexity will become the economic, cultural, and political superpowers of the next century.
Douglas R. Hofstadterauthor of "Gotel, Esther, Bach"One comes away from "Complexity" both intellectually excited by ideas and emotionally involved with the people struggling to formulate them. This is a deep tale of science in the making.