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Complexity: A Guided Tour . Melanie Mitchell. (2009, New York: Oxford University Press.) $29.95, 368 pages.

Complexity: A Guided Tour . Melanie Mitchell. (2009, New York: Oxford University Press.) $29.95,... Book Review Luis R. Izquierdo* University of Burgos Complexity: A Guided Tour. Melanie Mitchell. (2009, New York: Oxford University Press.) $29.95, 368 pages. 1 Introduction In the present day, writing a book about complexity is a major challenge. To start with, there is no agreed-upon definition of complexity. Arguably, there is not even a shared understanding of the core ideas that underlie the description of most complex systems. Concepts such as “self-organization,” “adaptation,” “chaos,” and “emergence” are appealing and widely used, but they do not seem to have escaped the esoteric realm of ill-defined notions yet. The challenge of writing a book on complexity becomes twofold if, in addition, the book is meant to be popular science. How can one communicate and interrelate a myriad of complex ideas in a simple and attractive way, in fewer than 300 pages full of illustrations, using virtually no equations, and in a manner that can be easily understood by a broad audience? Finally, if, furthermore, you want to keep a healthy, skeptical viewpoint on the field and write the book in a scientifically rigorous way, the challenge becomes daunting. Given all this, I believe that there are very few people in http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Artificial Life MIT Press

Complexity: A Guided Tour . Melanie Mitchell. (2009, New York: Oxford University Press.) $29.95, 368 pages.

Artificial Life , Volume 16 (3) – Jul 1, 2010

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Publisher
MIT Press
Copyright
© 2010 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Subject
Book Reviews
ISSN
1064-5462
eISSN
1530-9185
DOI
10.1162/artl.2010.Izquierdo.B8
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Book Review Luis R. Izquierdo* University of Burgos Complexity: A Guided Tour. Melanie Mitchell. (2009, New York: Oxford University Press.) $29.95, 368 pages. 1 Introduction In the present day, writing a book about complexity is a major challenge. To start with, there is no agreed-upon definition of complexity. Arguably, there is not even a shared understanding of the core ideas that underlie the description of most complex systems. Concepts such as “self-organization,” “adaptation,” “chaos,” and “emergence” are appealing and widely used, but they do not seem to have escaped the esoteric realm of ill-defined notions yet. The challenge of writing a book on complexity becomes twofold if, in addition, the book is meant to be popular science. How can one communicate and interrelate a myriad of complex ideas in a simple and attractive way, in fewer than 300 pages full of illustrations, using virtually no equations, and in a manner that can be easily understood by a broad audience? Finally, if, furthermore, you want to keep a healthy, skeptical viewpoint on the field and write the book in a scientifically rigorous way, the challenge becomes daunting. Given all this, I believe that there are very few people in

Journal

Artificial LifeMIT Press

Published: Jul 1, 2010

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