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I was a little disappointed in this book I must admit. I also think that you need to have a grasp of mathematics and physics to get the most from the book. I found that it perhaps did not go into the all the aspects I was interested in. I also found that since there were so many theories that the authors use of constant analogies tended to confuse rather than clarify the situation.However, the book and the topic is still very interesting. There is however plenty to interest those who want to know more about network theory and how it is evident is so many aspects of our world these days.This is not a book you can simply read before you go to sleep each night. You need to allocate some time and really spend time understanding what the author is trying to get across if you want to get the most from this book.
Just a sample -- something to give the idea. First, there were many times when, after reading a key paragraph and grokking what it meant, I thought "why didn't he give us a diagram showing." There are a few diagrams in the book, but not many -- perhaps one fifth of what I personally feel was warranted.The other disappointment -- and in all fairness I have felt this way about many other books as well -- I wish the author had not tried so hard to shield us from the math.
The author does an excellent job of bringing the subject to life, following the history of the research and using clever analogies to gently guide the reader through the significant ideas of sync. I enjoyed this book.
You really get from this book a sense of how researchers struggle and collaborate to solve problems in fits and starts, and how exciting it is when those rare breakthroughs are achieved.So I definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes pop science, but there were a couple of things I wish Strogatz had done differently. Artfully woven in are stories that introduce us to the personalities of those who have made contributions to the field.
I often get bored by such biographical details in books, but Strogatz did an excellent job with it -- the book is a surprisingly lively read. I'm pretty sure publishers consider explicit formulas the "kiss of death" for such books, but hey, couldn't you squirrel off in the appendix a section or two about "The Math of Sync" for those who are not allergic.
As it is, I feel like I got the aroma of the soup but didn't actually get to taste it.Still, it's a good read, and I congratulate the author.
very poor written. the book is like an enumeration of anecdotes and things that "sync", but there are no theory nor tesis nor explanation of almost nothing, mere speculation. you finish with a sensation of void. don't aggregate nothing. Thus, just for speculations, i prefer poetry. cheers.
In the realm of biology, the same types of mathematical models describe patterns of self-organization in fireflies, heart cells and neurons. It is noteworthy that this self-organizing aspect of our bodies may have played an integral role in the evolutionary process. According to the picture he has given us of how sync forms seemingly out of nowhere in natural and artificial systems, in lifeforms and inanimate processes, it seems to be an integral part of deep nature. I won't pretend that my comprehension is complete, but I gained a great deal of general knowledge from his account. This book probably deserves to be read at least twice, especially by a science novice like myself. There is great relevance in studying patterns based on synchrony for medical and communications applications, according to examples Strogatz has given us, and that is justification enough to try to at least have some awareness of this emerging science. Of particular interest to me was a section on how the human body syncs itself for periods of rest and activity with its circadian rhythms. It has required subtle mathematical reasoning to formulate these concepts and sophisticated computer programs to visualize them.
There are many anecdotal descriptions of the varied personalities who have taken part in the quest. achieve patterns of behavior that can lead to oscillation, equilibrium, or abrupt, discontinuous transformations. There is a lot of information to digest here, although Steven Strogatz has obligingly used metaphorical examples instead of mathematical formulas to assist the understanding of those of us unfamiliar with the field. Strogatz has done his best to infuse the reader with his own excitement for his field by presenting the quest to understand sync in a quasi-detective-story format where we are shown chronologically the beginnings and subsequent milestones in understanding the phenomenon. Synchrony seems to be the basic organizing function through which systems as diverse as electric power grids, human cognition, schools of fish,etc. Some of these complex patterns can be represented by models representing spiral rotations like pinwheels; others assume the form of toroids. Here we see the gracious side of Strogatz, as he gives credit where it is due; particularly admirable is his praise for Brian Josephson, a Nobel-prize winner widely ostracized by other scientists for turning to an interest in the paranormal. In this book we are given an introduction to sync by one of the pioneers.
You will also find explanations on supercondictivity, lasers, circadian rythms, heart sync & arrythmias, how lightbugs synchronize and a brief introduction to network theory. Imagine an orchestra in which all musicians are synchronized even if the music does not repeat itself.This book explains the main concepts of Chaos and Sync without the maths.
The simplest form of sync is observed in the way how two pendulums synchronize themselves, like two coupled oscillators. The pendulum's motion is ruled by nonlinear dynamics and has become the landmark of chaos theory (almost as much as the butterfly effect), since one cannot predict its motion when it bounces into a chaotic state.
This is the account of how scientists are looking for Sync, the science of how the world synchronizes itself out of chaos in both the living and nonliving realms, as well as the mathematical laws that rule them. However Sync not only deals with periodic states (systems that repeat themselves), it can arise from chaotic systems as well.
(For an easy to read and well explained introduction into this emerging science, read Chaos: Making a New Science). Complexity theory deals with the coupling of more than one oscillator.
The explanation of "strange attractors" was extremely good, the idea is transmitted very well. This is a very refreshing reading and also very easy as well, but full of interesting information.Origin of Wealth: Evolution, Complexity, and the Radical Remaking of Economics gives an excellent explanation of complex systems, while Deep Simplicity: Bringing Order to Chaos and Complexity explains the physical and chemical aspects of chaos from an astrophysicist' point of view.
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