Deep Simplicity: Bringing Order to Chaos and Complexity

This book is an investment, but it is worth the time as it will definitely make you smarter.

Having only just read the book 6 years after publication, I don't typically write a review for a book that so many others have already provided excellent reviews. I make an exception if the author provides a stunningly good read as John Gribbin does in Deep Simplicity.It's a quick and poignant subject survey. It is thoroughly applicable across scientific disciplines. It is by degrees overcome by events in specific areas of which the perpetual boogeyman of gravitational theory and the esoteric P versus NP problem of complexity have both evolved into a real world problems as revealed in collecting simple understandings of the expected LHC sensor outputs.Gribbin provides a curious slant to order and chaos through an unfamiliar evolution and synergy among Newton's statics & dynamics through Maxwell's electromagnetics, Fourier's thermodynamics and the limits of mathematical philosophy in Poincare's `n-body' insolubility. I enjoyed the path that Gribbin's takes the reader to understand his argument. There are detours that the topically familiar reader will identify to depart, by degrees, Gribbin's conclusion. This in no way detracts from the Gribbin's effort, rather, Gribbin's argument is a springboard to further development. That there are newly emergent paths to consider after only 6 years of the book's publication speaks to the dynamic subject.The physical sciences have evolved to require a `new' science for information extraction of the many constructs of physical, mathematical and logical operations to integrate in language that carries meaning. Gribbin's hits all around the requirement. Watching IBM's tour de force "Watson" demolish his human competition on Jeopardy through the application of knowledge algorithms is important in the premise Gribbin's initiates.Read Deep Simplicity if for no other reason than gaining a better grasp of the mathematical power properties of complex systems and the significance and real world application of 1/f noise management.

Great book

This book presents chaos and complexity theory deeply rooted in their mathematical/physical foundations, starting with Newton's laws. Although Mr. Gribbin presents some difficult concepts and formulas in the first part of the book, I would say that with a truly concentrated reading a layperson - like myself - can understand it; the rest of the book reads more smoothly. In this difficult part of the book, the author explains statistical physics and thermodynamics, including entropy and "the arrow of time" (very well explained) as well as fractals and the related maths. He explains that gravity is the essential prerequisite of life, without which there would be no way of temporarily breaking the second law of thermodynamics to reduce entropy. For the brief period of time that comprises the life of an organism, this law is broken; when the organism dies, its energy is released and an equilibrium state takes over. Without gravity, all energy would be dissipated and no life would be possible. In these chapters you can admire Mr. Gribbin's mastery of these concepts as well as his passion for the subject, since astrophysics is his true area of expertise. You can probably find the explanations of the rest of the book in other sources, but Mr. Gribbin's astrophysical background puts them in a different perspective.Mr. Gribbins did me a great favor by explaining the true "Gaia" concept as well as the scientific work of Mr. Lovelock and his background both in chemistry and in the building of sensitive measuring equipments. I held the wrong and widespread idea that "Gaia" was a term used to define our planet as a truly living organism linked to some New Age philosophical ideas. Reading that it is a term to define a complex system in the thermodynamical sense and which comprises several smaller systems (ecosystems) that interact with Gaia and between themselves, is quite another story. The anecdote of Mr. Lovelock's proposed experiment to find life on Mars by analyzing the chemical composition of its atmosphere (whether its atmosphere is in equilibrium or not, whether the oxygen is bound to other elements, not allowing for chemical reactions and whether you can find compounds that are chemical signs of life - like CO2) was excellent. The NASA team did not follow Mr. Lovelock's recommendation to take samples of Mars' atmosphere, but used several equipments designed by him in the Mars Mission to look for life on the planet's surface. Today, scientists are using an adapted version of his proposal to look for life in distant planets without leaving the earth, using spectrography to obtain the chemical composition of their atmospheres. Inspired by what I read in this book about Gaia, I have now read Microcosmos: Four Billion Years of Microbial Evolution, whose authors are strong supporters of this theory. Excellent book on how microorganisms re-shaped our planet's chemical composition.In this book you can read about chaotic systems like the weather in which a tiny variation in the initial conditions leads to a radically different outcome (butterfly effect), about systems in perfect equilibrium, as well as about self-sustained criticalities, which are systems at the edge of chaos, where life emerges. I would like to share the best and most simple explanation of entropy and thermodynamics, as well as of complex adaptive systems and self-sustained criticalities that I have read - intended for truly lay audiences, (read cero math or physics, but not lacking depth) Origin of Wealth: Evolution, Complexity, and the Radical Remaking of Economics. For an excellent explanation of statistical physics and power laws read Critical Mass: How One Thing Leads to Another. In my opinion Chaos: Making a New Science is still the broadest and best explained book on the topic. Another fascinating take at it is Sync: How Order Emerges From Chaos In the Universe, Nature, and Daily Life, written by a mathematician who somehow managed to write an easy and accessible book without any maths (this book contains the best explanation of strange attractors that I have read).

I wish this book was available when I went to college. We studied a lot of the things John Gribbin talks about. But it was presented as something very abstract, "pure" advanced math without any connection to the real world around. As such it made for a VERY boring subject and torturous four years.I am truly amazed at how seemingly easy John Gribbin can take the same subject and explain it so eloquently and in very practical terms! In my view this is a perfect example of a great book (see Mortimer Adler's "How to Read a Book", a must for anyone who wants to read analytically) - it can teach most people something new and make your brain work at it.Finally, I would not have stumbled upon this book if it wasn't for Charlie Munger (of Berkshire Hathaway fame) and his annual book recommendations at BRK's annual meeting. He is a wise man and this was a proof that it's worth listening to anything he says.

Fascinating description of how systems interact. I am interested in how complex problems can be addressed by individuals and organizations and how solutions to problems or challenges/situations are addressed in nature. Purchased this book to better understand this dynamic.

I read a lot of books and I was not sure what to expect from the book and it is a bit dated (copyright 2004) but in reading through it, it seemed as if it had been written very recently. The topics covered include basic chaos theory but it is built from the ground up and indeed most of the book lays the groundwork to give a good understanding of what underpins chaos theory. I am a chemist by training and work in a technical field so most of the material covered is not new but the way it is connected was impressive and it provided me with insights that I should have known but had never put together. My two sons are chemists and they had similar comments. I truly wish I had read the book a decade ago. While it is not a religious book, the message that it conveys is positive and uplifting. For the scientist or non-scientist I would strongly recommend this book as a way of understanding how nature works at a fundamental level and why things that seem complex are really simple at the most basic level.

Deep Simplicity is the first book I have read on the topic of chaos and complexity which manages to explain the underlying concepts and the history of the field in a clear, precise, structured way and yet remains an entertaining read thanks to John Gribbin's great writing. The author manages to untangle the seemingly paradox relationship between simplicity and complexity across different fields and applications.

Good

a little bit hard for me to read, but i think i will read it later. good good good good.

worth read