Complexity Books I want to read
Explore my curated list of must-read complexity books, featuring top picks on systems theory, chaos, networks, and emergent phenomena. Dive into these essential reads for understanding complex systems.
Book
Linked
by Albert-László Barabási
We've long suspected that we live in a small world, where everything is connected to everything else. Indeed, networks are pervasive--from the human brain to the Internet to the economy to our group of friends. These linkages, it turns out, aren't random. All networks, to the great surprise of scientists, have an underlying order and follow simple laws. Understanding the structure and behavior of these networks will help us do some amazing things, from designing the optimal organization of a firm to stopping a disease outbreak before it spreads catastrophically. In Linked, Barabási, a physicist whose work has revolutionized the study of networks, traces the development of this rapidly unfolding science and introduces us to the scientists carrying out this pioneering work. These "new cartographers" are mapping networks in a wide range of scientific disciplines, proving that social networks, corporations, and cells are more similar than they are different, and providing important new insights into the interconnected world around us. This knowledge, says Barabási, can shed light on the robustness of the Internet, the spread of fads and viruses, even the future of democracy.
Book
Does God Play Dice
by Ian Stewart
The revised and updated edition includes three completely new chapters on the prediction and control of chaotic systems. It also incorporates new information regarding the solar system and an account of complexity theory. This witty, lucid and engaging book makes the complex mathematics of chaos accessible and entertaining. Presents complex mathematics in an accessible style. Includes three new chapters on prediction in chaotic systems, control of chaotic systems, and on the concept of chaos. Provides a discussion of complexity theory.
Book
The End of Certainty
by Ilya Prigogine
Nobel Laureate Ilya Prigogine discusses the irreversibility of time and his findings impact on the laws of physics.
Book
Chaos
by James Gleick
James Gleick explains the theories behind the fascinating new science called chaos. Alongside relativity and quantum mechanics, it is being hailed as the twentieth century's third revolution. 8 pages of photos.
