Neil Johnson - Simply Complexity

 

Neil Johnson - Simply Complexity: A Clear Guide to Complexity Theory 

4 ⭐

Genre: Non-Fiction, Science, Academia, Research, Physics, Nature, Environment

Pages: 256

Format: Paperback

Publisher:  OneWorld Publications

Date Published: 1st October 2009

 

Book Blurb: 

What do traffic jams, stock market crashes, and wars have in common? They are all explained using complexity, an unsolved puzzle that many researchers believe is the key to predicting – and ultimately solving—everything from terrorist attacks and pandemic viruses right down to rush hour traffic congestion.

Complexity is considered by many to be the single most important scientific development since general relativity and it promises to make sense of no less than the very heart of the Universe. Using it, scientists can find order emerging from seemingly random interactions of all kinds, from something as simple as flipping coins through to more challenging problems such as the patterns in modern jazz, the growth of cancer tumours, and predicting shopping habits.

My Review: 

As someone who didn’t know anything about Complexity and Complexity Theory before, yet needed to learn about it for a PhD project, this book is fantastic. It is very accessible and easy to understand. It doesn’t use any of the overcomplicated scientific jargon and explains very complex ideas in an easily understandable way with some great real-life examples. Yes, this book was also written a while ago, but the examples that the author uses are still very much relevant today.

The book itself explains the idea behind Complexity and Complexity Theory, its evolution and where it all is today, as well as what needs to be done to take this idea even further and make it a part of scientific research and academia. It looks how Complexity covers a wide range of subjects and disciplines, from anthropology, and economics, to, geography, physics and maths.

Overall: Very accessible and exciting book, with no complicated language and no scientific jargon. Examples are also given to consolidate the understanding and to provide a bigger picture of the Complexity around us. It definitely gave me ideas and was one of the only Complexity books that didn’t include a lot of complex explanations and maths that I would never be able to understand. 

About the Author:

Neil Johnson is the head of a new inter-disciplinary research group in Complexity at University of Miami in Florida. Previously he was Professor of Physics and co-director of research collaboration into Complexity at Oxford University.

https://www.simonandschuster.co.uk/books/Simply-Complexity/Neil-Johnson/9781780740492