■ "Exploring Complexity" surveys the wide
range of complex phenomena arising in the framework of physico-chemical and
biological systems and in the global environment. The book defines the elements
of a new scientific vocabulary - the vocabulary of complexity - and elaborates
the tools for analyzing these problems efficiently. It breaks disciplinary
barriers to consider issues beyond the realm of traditional physical science,
including the dynamics of climatic change and the behaviour of social insects
and human populations.---■ A good, rather technical text to introduce the
dynamics of complex systems and where to look for it. Prigogine and Nicolis
gradually introduce the vocabulary and the physical and mathematical concepts
describing systems far from thermodynamic equilibrium, that is where their
dynamic is interesting, rich and sometimes unpredictable. When he limits
himself to thermodynamics and physics (especially in the branch where he made
fundamental contributions) as in this case, Prigogine is a master - little
doubt. Luckily, this text, quite comprehensive and accessible to whom masters
some statistics and calculus, is devoid of those Bergsonian muds and
elucubrations which spoiled to a substantial extent Prigogine's later offerings
(just about the time of "The new alliance"). Here we find only few
isolated hazardous jumps of that kind - which many years after the publication
appear simplistic and overcome by a more reasoned and comprehensive view of the
problematics.---■ Unexpected discoveries in nonequilibrium physics and
nonlinear dynamics are changing our understanding of complex phenomena. Recent
research has revealed fundamental new properties of matter in
far-from-equilibrium conditions, and the prevalence of instability-where small
changes in initial conditions may lead to amplified effects.---





■ This book presents an early exploration of complex
systems science. Its inclination is somewhat different from later works, but
its grounding in physics, chemistry, and thermodynamics, as well as its
connection to chaos theory (see citations under Chaos Theory) make it an
excellent reference that will appeal to those in the physical sciences.---

Exploring Complexity: An Introduction PDF

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