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Title: Sync: The Emerging Science of Spontaneous Order by Steven Strogatz ISBN: 0-7868-6844-9 Publisher: Hyperion Press Pub. Date: 05 March, 2003 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.52 (27 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Outstanding book on a fascinating new science
Comment: Strogatz's Sync deals with one of the most fascinating new fields of science (not to be confused with synchronicity!). Why do certain species of fireflies synchronize their flashes? How do we maintain our sleep/wake cycles? Strogatz answers these questions and others that have puzzled scientists for decades. He gathers together results from his own work and that of other physicists, biologists, and sociologists to explain the factors that underly the disparate phenomena that exhibit synchronization. Strogatz's exposition introduces the reader to other hot new fields of science including complexity theory and network theory in order to explain the basis of synchronization, and this is partially the reason why this book is so exciting to read (don't be scared by all this theory talk - you don't have to know much math to understand this book). The excitement I felt from reading the book stemmed from the realization that we are in a new era of science where knowledge is being furthered by integrating various fields of study. The study of sync has enabled us to link together sociology, ecology, neuroscience, and other previously believed to be unrelated fields. Strogatz makes this clear, for example, when illustrating that the sociologists' studies of the "six degrees of separation" phenomenon is closely related to the simultaneous firing of the heart's pacemaker cells. Most importantly, he is able to convey the basics of a complex science to the lay reader. Strogatz also gets props for giving credit to all the scientists that contributed to this new field of science including the ones that have influenced him and the ones that he taught.
If you are into complexity theory, network theory, or just want to understand the scientific basis for phenomena that often were deemed too complex or unworthy to study, then you should definitely read Sync. It will help you to understand that things we often consider to be completely different are in fact very much alike.
Rating: 5
Summary: Great treatise on synchronization and natural order
Comment: "Sync: The Emerging Science of Spontaneous Order" is a dissertation on synchronization and its place in the universe. Standard entropy theory has always indicated that a system that is orderly will, over time, move to a position of less and less organization. However, that is not always consistent with observations in real life. Steven Strogatz does an inspired job of describing how synchronization exists in such small areas as fireflies and plant leaves to much larger concepts of the universe and the asteroid belt in our solar system.
One of the more fascinating sections of the book deals with synchronization in human beings. It covers current research in areas such as sleep rhythms, circadian rhythms, the tendency for women to match menstrual cycles over time, body temperature rhythms, and various other normal cycles of the human experience.
This is a very academically oriented text that many with only a passing interest in such things might find too detailed and scientific for their likes. On the other hand, for those with a keen interest in the cycles of the natural world and current research into this emerging field this is one of the foremost texts on the subject. It is a highly recommended read for anyone with a desire to learn about how natural tendencies toward synchronization move us to spontaneous order.
Rating: 4
Summary: My review...
Comment: Good book on the subject, the physics part in the middle with super-fluid was difficult when stoned. This is one of the first books which is leading to the convergence of science and religion ( science being the religion of cause and effect ). I especially liked how the book ends with brain-sync to create thoughts and emotions. I've just finished the book "Mind wide Open" because I wanted to know more about how the brain worked because of it. I'm now starting "Mind and Nature: A Necessary Unity (Advances in Systems Theory, Complexity, and the Human Sciences)", all because of this book. So I liked this book as you can tell. But good books written by Math professors are rare.
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Title: Six Degrees: The Science of a Connected Age by Duncan J. Watts ISBN: 0393041425 Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: February, 2003 List Price(USD): $27.95 |
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Title: Linked: How Everything Is Connected to Everything Else and What It Means by Albert-Laszlo Barabasi, Albert-Laszlo Barbasi ISBN: 0452284392 Publisher: Plume Pub. Date: 29 April, 2003 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Nexus: Small Worlds and the Groundbreaking Science of Networks by Mark Buchanan ISBN: 0393041530 Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: May, 2002 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
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Title: Nonlinear Dynamics and Chaos: With Applications to Physics, Biology, Chemistry and Engineering by Steven H. Strogatz ISBN: 0738204536 Publisher: Perseus Book Group Pub. Date: 15 January, 2001 List Price(USD): $49.00 |
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Title: The Emergence of Everything: How the World Became Complex by Harold J. Morowitz ISBN: 019513513X Publisher: Oxford Press Pub. Date: September, 2002 List Price(USD): $28.00 |
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