Complexity Books

As the Six Sigma and Lean practice areas mature, the challenge is to discover new ways to apply these methods. Michael George proposes that an analysis that looks at complexity of a business is a way to identify areas of opportunity for improvement. The method is based on some patented equations that attempt to put numerical values on a company's complexity. When the complexity is calculated, and is found to be out of balance with the company's strategic direction, then action can be taken using Lean Six Sigma to reduce (or increase) complexity.

This book proposes methods that cross conventional organizational boundaries, so the mission and the methods must be adopted by senior people who can see the benefits of crossing the boundaries. To make a difference managing complexity, these senior people must have the people and power to calculate new business measures and deploy teams that may not align with current organizations and departments.

The method seems sound, although the case studies are few. Anecdotes fill in the gap between idea and practice, and the anecdotes seem forced or coincidental (for example, Wal-Mart and Toyota can be used to justify nearly every business improvement method, even if neither of these companies goes on record as having used the method).

As usual in the improvement business, it's a matter of cost versus benefits. It seems to be a low risk analysis method that can reveal a potentially high risk, but high reward, payback. Since the equations are patented, presumably the only way that one can actually try this method is to contact (and hire?) Mr. George's consulting company.

This book, like the others in the series by Mike George (Fast Innovation, Lean Six Sigma) is right on target. The examples clearly show how complexity clutters business operations, products and decision making, thus reducing economic performance and shareholder value. The rigor (and mathematics)used to support and analyze the assertions is insightful and reinforces what is intuitively obvious when you understand their thesis. This is an important book for executives that would proabably be much more widely embraced if not for the math involved. Pity, the Japanese and others will pay attention.

This is an amazingly revealing book about the dangers of complexity that is not consciously managed. And just what does managing comlexity entail? I the authors' words, it means

- Eliminating complexity that customers will not pay for
- Exploiting the complexity customers will pay for, and
- Minimizing the cost of the complexity you offer

In part 1 the case is made for conquering complexity in your business' portfolio (number of offerings) and processes (number of ways of doing the same thing). Part 2 develops the conceptual framework for measuring and managing complexity. In part 3, you are shown how to apply these concepts to the elimination, exploitation and reducing the costs of complexity.

Lastly, part 4 shows how to create an organisational culture that supports complexity management, conquer the complexity in your value chain and even apply the principles in mergers and acquisitions.

Businesses talk about reducing complexity but have trouble determining it and simplifying it.

The books provides a roadmap and technique that organizations can use to identify the bad compelxities that customers will not pay for. The book goes further and identifies possible solutions with a plethora of real life examples that make the theory easy to understand and apply

I found Conquering Complexity provides an excellent framework and lays out a compelling business case for why and how you should focus on complexity.
This is the best guide out there in terms of a comprehensive approach to identify, quantify and attack complexity. The book is a very practical and pragmatic read with a wealth of real world examples and illustrations that reinforce concepts layed out in a logical sequence.
In researching a number of books though there are many that contain bits and pieces of concepts that relate to complexity, I have found that none of them tackle the concept of complexity as a discipline that must be mastered as Conquering Complexity does. I found it to be a refreshing, compelling book that you can follow step by step to create a complexity focus and agenda in your organization. There is tremendous power in purchasing the book for co-workers or Managers to help raise their complexity IQ and see what is possible. I continue to learn from the book as I refer back to it frequently. I would highly recommend it to anyone or any organization that is looking to continuously improve or to create greater value. I really found the sections on Product/Service proliferation to be right on, and a wealth of information. - Rodney

Miller and Page have written an excellent, very accessible introduction to complex systems as applied to social phenomena. They are especially careful in discussing inferences based on computer simulations. Since any computer simulation is an extreme reduction of real social interactions, it's necessary to be careful that a comparison between two simulations captures a principled difference. For example, Miller & Page describe two versions of the forest fire model. In the first version all trees are likely to grow in an available spot with the same probability, while in the second version the trees can have individual inhieritable probabilities of growth. The difference in principle is a differene in the basic abilities of the individual agents (trees). In this example the average number of trees is significantly higher in the second case.

A nice introduction material. You will learn how complex phenomena are currently studied . I will use this book as an intro material to complex systems in my economics course.
My only complain is that the book scarcelly discuss aplications in social sciences!!! I have to use specific articles with applications for that. the author should supress the subtitle. but it is still an excellent book.

I found this book to be a bit more technical than I expected. Very good reference book.

The authors do an excellent job of introducing the field to an educated audience. Any one who has a general college level education can read and understand the basics after reading the book. Tables and charts succinctly illustrate points Miller and Page make and illucidate the text.

If you are looking for a book that discusses progamming, how to do, or other deeper aspects of the field, you will be disappointed. However, if you are just curious and want a good general introduction to the field, perhaps with the goal of further exploration, it is a good anchor from which to base your learning.

Sometime I encounter books that are extremely important, that give me an appreciation for a knowledge domain I do not know enough about, and that I simply cannot read and review.

This book, and Generative Social Science: Studies in Agent-Based Computational Modeling (Princeton Studies in Complexity) are two such books. I got half-way through this one, did the introduction to the other, from which I was immediately grabbed by the concept of:

"instead of explaining it, can you grow it?"

Howard Bloom, in Global Brain: The Evolution of Mass Mind from the Big Bang to the 21st Century teaches us that the only way to create a sustainable peace in the Palestine region is to provide absolute security for an entire generation, and raise two whole generations, one on each side, from kindergarten on us, generations that do not consider "the other" to be "pigs and monkeys" by the age of five.

Similarly, the literature on wealth of networks and the fortune at the bottom of the pyramid is growing, and I am convinced that public intelligence (decision support, full disclosure, end of information asymmetries) is going to accomplish two things in the next twenty years:

1) Eradicate corruption and enforce the triple-bottom line

2) Elevate five billion poor by teaching them one cell call at a time so that they can create infinite stabilizing wealth.

See for example:
Infinite Wealth: A New World of Collaboration and Abundance in the Knowledge Era
The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom
Revolutionary Wealth: How it will be created and how it will change our lives
The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty Through Profits (Wharton School Publishing Paperbacks)

So the very best thing I can say about this book is that I am glad I bought it, I am very glad to have a sense, however weak, of this important exploratory area, and now I know that I need a team of generative social scientists that can do complex modeling for peace and prosperity solutions.

See also, just published at Amazon and free online at Earth Intelligence Network, Collective Intelligence: Creating a Prosperous World at Peace

I urge one and all to become familiar with World Index of Social and Environmental Responsibility (WISER), as best I can tell that is the center of gravity for empowering individuals with deep knowledge of the true costs and many human rights abuses and other crimes that we support today for lack of knowledge. I also recommend the pioneering EarthGame work of Medard Gabel, at BigPictureSmallWorld.

Overall, I think this is a great book about organization building. It mainly talks about how you can change an organization. You need to face the challenge of "shared vision", "corporate culture", and "goverance". As a change agent, you need to improve your personal leadership/personal mastery, relationship and dialogue with others.

The reason I only give it 4-star is because I can't find a strong link between all these great lessons and Chaos/Complexity/Quantum. I think all these lessons exist everywhere in all great organization building book.

Net, I recommend this book to anyone who are interested in organization building, but not about Chaos/complexity theory, etc.

Kay Gilley, keynote speaker, executive development consultant, and author of Leading from the Heart and The Alchemy of Fear:

This isn't a good book: it is a GREAT book. And, it is a must-read for anyone doing business on the bridge into the 21st Century.

Mark Youngblood has done a masterful job of simply and succinctly helping us understand the promise of ever-present, fast-paced, and dynamic change in our businesses. Encouraging us to transcend the limitations of Newtonian organizations, he brings tangible application to what it means to lead and work in a quantum one. He offers the promise that when we learn to embrace with the fluidity of chaos that we will be both more effective and enjoy our lives and work more. His examples are simple and direct and bring crystal clarity to the concepts he presents.

My personal copy is always near at hand, well-marked with dog-eared pages, sticky notes, and a long list of page reference notations in the back. When readers show up at my book signing with books that look like this, I know they have been well used...and my copy Life at the Edge of Chaos has indeed been well used. I can't recommend this book too highly.

As the primary author of the world's only organization theory textbook with a transformational perspective, I appreciate Mark's courage and boldness in articulating this new paradigm of organization. This book picks up where mine (and others) leave off: he clearly spells out a "road map" of where we are organizationally, how we got there, and what to do about it. A stunning achievement!!!!

Youngblood takes a big risk. He challenges the most essential, basic assumptions about how organizations work. By providing solid historical evidence of how our current paradigms were developed, he assures the reader that change is possible. Since big business is the single largest entity on the planet, and therefore responsible for the whole, my hope is that major corporations will embrace the creative programs proposed by Youngblood and have the courage to change to environments which are non-toxic for employees, stakeholders, communities and our planet.

While there are some good insights into human nature and life in this book, it is such a distraction when an author litters their ideas with leftist dogma. If you are going to refer to economic phenomena, you should understand what you are writing.

It's a book I keep coming back to. There is an immense variety in there, so you can dip into it here and there, as the chapters are quite independent of one another. As mentioned in another review, Combs has no axe to grind and so presents a review of various approaches to consciousness, from non-linear or chaos/ fractal approaches (to mental states), to the wisdom traditions of the `perennial philosophy' or Wilber & co. It is an unbiased mix of hard science and philosophy / psychology. I was not surprised to see Combs' smiling face on the dust jacket - his gentle humour shines through here and there, making sometimes difficult material more readable. It is indeed better than pure Wilber in that the latter tends to become somewhat wooly in his elaborations whilst Combs adds enough cutting edge research to remain firmly on the ground even whilst discussing layers of mental evolution. It is a good introduction to other thinkers in the field such as Teilhard de Chardin, Lazlo, Piaget etc. This book deserved whatever awards it received. Thoroughly recommended.

I'm not so certain that this book is as good as people here are saying it is. I read it based on the fact that people who read Julian Jaynes' masterpiece ('The Beginnings of Conscience in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind') have a tendency to buy it. It is a good book, and very thought provoking in sections. But, as a whole, it alternates between relatively unsophisticated philosophy and kinda popularizes a bunch of stuff that has been out there. Perhaps it's a bit too New-Agey for my tastes.... but I can't reccommend reading it..... Unless you have already read it (like me) read the Jaynes book mentioned above...

(Please don't hate me for writing this!!!!)

If by "new agey" you mean drawing upon Eastern philosophy to expand current scientific thought on consciousness and its evolution, then the book will disappoint, yes. For me it served as potent seed material on further research into the origins and development of consciousness, of which Jaynes was certainly the next logical step. But Jaynes does not make the important connections between Western scientific thought on consciousnes and ancient wisdom of the Eastern mystical traditions which Combs treats quite carefully and creatively in his book. So I would suggest the two be read concurrently. Combs is decidedly more psychological, which I suspect will make it more accessible to readers interested in considering what chaos theory might mean for how we think, develop, and live, and what our next quantum leap might look like. Jaynes is more anthropological, and speaks to the human species. Combs speaks to the human being. I consider both views essential to understanding human consciousness evolution. As for readability, I believe Combs to be far ahead of Jaynes, but then I'm more at ease with psychology texts than anthropology. Plus, I think Combs has specific relevance to those who are interested in spiritual dimensions of consciousness -- for whom an Eastern world view cannot be overlooked. He spins physics with mysticism and evolution to inspire fresh thinking on the subject. That's not necessarily a "new age" approach... it's diversity of thought to which a Western thinker might do more than just tip the hat.

Allan Combs' The Radiance of Being is the kind of book one looks for but seldom finds on this subject. Most books on consciousness are either too technical and dry, or too loose and insubstantial. As Combs' beatiful and beautifully apt title suggests, this is a rare combination of scientific substance made accessible for a change with an easy flowing eloquence of writing style. Ranging from coverage on the consciousness theories of Jean Gebser, Ken Wilbur, and Sri Aurobindo to the relevance of chaos and complexity theory to the search for a scientific understanding of consciousness processes, this is a wonderful guide to the subject and a wonderful read. It is a book that America's pioneering psychologist in this area, William James, would have cherished.

This is an excellent introduction to the role of complexity in thought. When read in conjunction with Paul Cilliers's Complexity and Postmodernism, Andy Clark's Being There, and Alicia Juarrero's Dynamics in Action, one gets the sense that a new paradigm is in the making. Kudos!

Walter Macken, a native of Galway, was born in 1915 and died in his home city at the age of 51. A writer, an actor and a playwright, he is perhaps best known for his novel "Flight of the Doves" - which was adapted for the cinema - and his "Irish Trilogy". "Flight of the Doves" is one of the two children's books he wrote, and was first published, posthumously, in 1968.

The Doves of the book's title are two orphaned children, Finn and Derval Dove. They live in England with their "Uncle" Toby, who is actually their step-father. Toby, once the family's lodger, married the children's mother after their father died in an accident. Unfortunately, as the book opens, the children's mother has been dead for two years - and Toby has not been treating the children at all well. When Toby comes home from work, he expects the house to be clean and tidy and his dinner to be on the table. Once eaten, he'll head out to the pub and won't return until the children are in bed. He appears to have a particular dislike for Finn - a twelve year old boy with red hair who regularly gets beaten by his step-father. Derval, the younger of the pair, is a seven year old girl with blonde hair. When Finn becomes afraid that Toby is going to start beating his sister, he decides it's time to run away. Although he does have a destination in mind - his Granny O'Flaherty's home in the west of Ireland - he isn't too sure exactly where she lives. The journey across the sea isn't made an easier by a notable lack of funds - but the children take off as soon as Toby goes out to the Red Dragon.

When Toby discovers the pair missing the following morning - and realises he'll have to make his own breakfast - he falls into the depths of despair. Nevertheless, he believes the children will soon return of their own accord and doesn't notify the police. However, things change when he arrives at work and discovers the children are due to inherit a tidy sum from relatives in America. He realises Finn and Derval may have gone to Ireland, and soon the runaways are being hunted onboth sides of the Irish Sea. Although the children aren't long in making friends, their journey to Granny O'Flaherty's isn't going to be easy - not with the newspaper coverage and a bounty of their heads...

A very easily read and enjoyable children's book.

Walter Macken is one of the greatest Irish writers of all time. This book is a classic yet still has relevance in today's day and age. I loved this book as a child and reread it recently with one of my children. We enjoyed it as much as I did 25 years ago. Easy to read and adventuresome.

I had to read this many, many years ago in my sixth grade reading class. I remember enjoying it thoroughly, because it reminded me of the Disney movie"Escape to Witch Mountain." I don't remember much else about it, but last night I was thinking about it and figured it was out of print. I was glad to find it today here on amazon. I will be rereading it soon!

This book holds fond memories for me. It has whispered to me over the years and now I am happy to know that, through technology, I will hold it in my hands and read it to my children! Read this to a child... they will benefit!

On the surface, this book appears to be the standard 'orphaned kids with the mean step-uncle run away to grandma's' but it is much more than that. With MacKen's laying this tale subtly over the Irish rebellion of the 1920's, we see England-born Finn also rediscover his Irish heritage. On his journey, we find ourselves realizing along with him that sometimes what is 'right' and what is 'legal' don't always coincide. [Note: sometimes this book is compared to Disney's 'Escape to Witch Mountain'. Please keep in mind that, unlike Disney, and aside from a brother and sister as main characters, the characterizations in this book are deeper, the writing is better, and nobody gets married and sings at the end.]

Levin has produced a rich, nuanced and detailed account of how complexity theory may further our understanding of ecological processes. He does not shy away from the tough questions: How do ecosystems assemble themselves? What is the relationship between an ecosystem's structure and function? Does evolution increase the resiliency of an ecosystem? In addressing these and other questions, Levin offers both real world examples and sophisticated theory. Regrettably, Levin often fails to distinguish between what he knows as a scientist and what he has decided to take on faith based on the statements of environmentalist advocacy groups. As a result, the book is a strange amalgam of excellent "popular" science and overearnest environmental alarmism.

This book is written by a world renown, Princeton University biologist. I found it to be very thorough and quite inspiring. One of my favorite passages: "Thus, biodiversity is distributed, like stars and gasses and dust in the sky, into nebulae and galaxies of determinate and indeterminate structure, producing a picture whose intricacies defy simple discription." Well said! Biodiversity is truly a treasure beyond measure!



Unfortunately for us, kooky consevatives, and their ilk, are attacking science on many fronts, trying, and many times succeeding, in blocking scientific progress. What a shame! Now it's biology that's "alamist." While the globe is warming, glaciers are melting to such a degree, that it's benefiting archeology; human caused extinctions of flora and fauna are reaching epochal proportions; huge area of oceans, lakes, and bays, have dead zones due to the lack of oxygenation; our environmental laws, here in the States, such as the Endangered Species Act, are under constant attack by Neanderthals in Congress; ad nauseum, the rest of us should just bury our collective heads in the proverbial sand! But when an emminet biologist tells the truth about where our planet's precious biodiversity is heading, he's "alamist."



This one of the most apolitical books I've ever read! But I'm certainly glad the author didn't have his book vetted by conservative lunatics, or their corporate and government allies!

I, not being educated in ecology and environmental sciences, still found this book to be timely, informational and educational. The author presents his and other authoritys' complex environmental theories and ideas with brilliant, entertaining and even funny analogies which I as a naive observer could understand. From his "Ecological Scrabble", falling cows (cows were not designed to fly, of course), fast food establishments as an example of functional meta-groups, his own office desk as "self-organized system", to the common message "think globally, act locally"--- (Levin encourages us to think LOCALLY as well, to be responsible), the author concludes with a valid to-do list of action items (eight "commandments" which I found to be applicable to another environment which is currently thriving- the INERNET...)If we don't take appropriate action to protect the diversity of our environment, we could end up like the starfish, if the mussels were to takeover the rocks,, how does one eat baked starfish? Parmagiana or Marsala?

I have known Levin just short of 30 years. He has been my mentor, my friend, my protector, and my pride. The eloquent prose and playful humor within his novel echoes the past 4 decades of Levin's teachings. It is a biographical chronicle of a lifetime of colleagues and their works, an adoration of classical music, and a relentless passion for mental conundrums and for quizzing for sport.

Levin's tireless devotion to accrue knowledge and to interact with each of his colleagues and students at universities and workshops around the globe has armed him with the intuit and insight which he imparts in Fragile Dominion. Levin is known for humbling his opponent on the squash court, for his command of biology and mathematics, and for his hilarious antics and quick wit. This revered scientist will now be known for synthesizing the field of ecology in a powerful, succinct novel. A delightful read for the scientist and nonscientist alike, Fragile Dominion, like the life about which it provides commentary, is worth the ride.

Fragile Dominion addresses an important topic, biodiversity. It discusses the use and development of models, particularly a certain type of mathematical model, for better understanding the biosphere. The emphasis on the effects of environmental degradation on the human condition and the call to "think locally" are vital if real progress is to be made in bettering the "commons."

Levin rationally discusses the Gaia hypothesis and touches upon subjects such as fitness landscapes in population genetics, evolutionary stable strategies, the evolution of altruism, disturbance and recolonization in forest and tidal systems, self-organizing criticality, and the important notion that pattern and process are not necessarily the same everywhere.

Throughout the book, Levin effectively uses economic examples, such as diversity in a stock portfolio, as parallels for ecological systems.

One drawback is that the book's level of mathematical and ecological sophistication is perhaps aimed a bit too high for the popular audience for which it is intended. Conversely, it is pitched too low for use in a scholarly setting.

It should be noted that the mathematical aesthetic for this work comes from only one school of thought, that of the Santa Fe Institute.

This book clarified views which I knew were correct, but lacked structure. Their view of business, as a biological system where innovation and progress occurs through the spontaneous interactions of individuals and groups, is a tremendous asset to anyone who values dynamic processes and thinking.

Among the increasing number of books purporting to connect complexity to business, this one shines. If an organization takes nothing more than an understanding of co-evolution away from this book, they will be well served. And there is a great deal more to be mined for those organizations looking for ways to make innovation a way of life. A powerful and rigorous approach in spite of its Eurocentric underpinnings. Sherman's connection to the Santa Fe Institute combine with impressive business credentials and an encyclopedic philosophical mind to create a deep resource for exploring an exciting new way to think about business.

Read The Complexity Advantage by Susanne Kelly and Mary Ann Allison it's a better book. Or better still check out the reviews before you buy.

I am a believer that organizational systems share much with biological systems. This idea struck me on the head the first time I visited the Galapagos. That trip made it clear that adaptation can occur very quickly and that more than one form of adaptation can occur in different directions at the same time, based on the environments that exist. I am also reminded of research that I recently read suggesting that we cannot accept or remember new ideas if we have not had previous experience with them. That is why it becomes so critical to prepare for change, to ask questions from many different perspectives to create ambiguity, and to present many different environments or alternate futures to create unpredictability. OPEN BOUNDARIES is a great book to read after THE LIVING COMPANY which describes how scenario planning was developed and why Shell was the only company prepared to do well during the Arab oil embargo. Complexity thinking really succeeds when you find a win-win solution - you will come out ahead no matter what happens. Another book you should look at that uses eight steps (revolving, not linear) to develop the best possible ideal practices for key activities assuming unpredictability of many things is THE 2,000 PERCENT SOLUTION. With these three, you are well on your way to removing the stalls blocking OPEN BOUNDARIES to become THE LIVING COMPANY and to reach THE 2,000 PERCENT SOLUTIONS for future success

Open Boundaries represents a successful and all too rare attempt to synthesize the lessons of complexity science with the day-to-day lives of managers. Where many authors are content to describe science metaphors and leave it to the reader to draw out life's lessons, Sherman and Schultz take the opposite tack. They begin by asking what problems their readers' face and then address those problems from a perspective of complexity science and philosophy. How and what we think shapes and effects what we do. Complexity science has much to contribute to change our units of thought. Open Boundaries will change your life as a thoughtful and reflective manager -- just let it.

Michael Lissack, Director, Organization Science Related Programs, New England Complex Systems Institute

Este debe ser uno de los libros más interesantes que he leido. Lo recomiendo tanto para alumnos de econonomía como para ejecutivos de areas similares. Concentra a grandes autores del area producción y economía, de los cuales destaco Goldratt. Realmente es excelente el libro.

Every once in comes a book packed with ideas, and this is definitely one of them. Although many of the authors/thinkers interviewed kept referring back to their previous works -- which had made them famous in the first place - this collection of interviews and essays is definitely worth reading.

To get a big group of business hall-of-famers together in one work is an achievement in itself. Kudos to Rowan Gibson for making this happen.

Rethinking the Future is a collection of interviews with experts who examine issues related to organizational change for the twenty-first century. The book contains a framework for creating the future in business, economics, and society in an environment of rapid change. The book has six sections with contributions from various writers as follows:

Rethinking Principles - Charles Handy, Stephen Covey Rethinking Competition - Michael Porter, CK Prahalad, Gary Hamel Rethinking Control & Complexity - Michael Hammer, Eli Goldblatt, Peter Senge Rethinking Leadership - Warren Bennis, John Kotter Rethinking Markets - Al Ries & Jack Trout, Philip Kotler Rethinking the World - John Naisbitt, Lester Thurow, Kevin Kelly

These thinkers present diverse views about key issues within their fields at the dawn of the 21st century. There are some common themes. Technology is viewed by all as the catalyst for the rapid rate of change. The widespread availability of technology has led to the democratization of information throughout the workplace. The world's leading nations in the east and the west are experiencing a shift to a knowledge-based economy requiring knowledge workers. These knowledge workers must be highly educated and possess technology skills. Another theme with strong consensus is the notion that the path to the future won't be found by implementing models and strategies that have been successful in the past.

Technology has facilitated the globalization of the world economy. This trend has forced business to rethink itself in terms of competition, markets, and trade. Convergence within and between industries will continue. This is evidenced by project or product based alliances. The goal of business is the satisfaction of customer needs. The informed customer is demanding a higher level of products, services, and satisfaction.

The 21st century leader has a responsibility to generate intellectual capital within the organization. The leader focuses the company on its purpose and principles. The leader's key obligation is to articulate vision and lead by example.

This selection is engaging reading. Gibson provides us with a wide lens to view many pictures of the future. He showcases a group of specialists from different fields. Rethinking the Future dispels the myth that the future can be easily predicted.

Melanie Tucker Pepperdine University Doctoral Student Educational Technology

Este debe ser uno de los libros más interesantes que he leido. Lo recomiendo tanto para alumnos de econonomía como para ejecutivos de areas similares. Concentra a grandes autores del area producción y economía, de los cuales destaco Goldratt. Realmente es excelente el libro.

While some of the comments and insights are interesting, I question the credibility of such a homogeneous group of contributors as we enter the business world of the 21st century.

A book about business priciples in the future should represent a diverse global workforce and customer base. This book, without a single female contributor, stands firmly planted in the past.

Peter Coveney and Roger Highfield, coauthors of The Arrow of Time: A voyage through science to solve time's greatest mystery, performed comprehensive work explaining the evolution of the science of complexity.

The authors examined the concept of complexity in such scientific disciplines as mathematics, biology, chemistry and physics.

The authors traced and illustrated the evolution (from reductionism) of complexity in the works of such scientists as:

Charles Babbage - English mathematician, a celebrated icon in the prehistory of computing. Invented Difference Engine No. 1. The Charles Babbage Institute is an historical archive and research center of the University of Minnesota.
George Boole - Better known for the algebras named after him, and as one of the pioneers of modern logic.
Kurt Godel - First to demonstrate that certain mathematical statements can neither be proved or disproved.
Richard Feynmann - Nobel laureate, introduced "universal quantum simulator".
Stuart Kauffman - Author of At Home in the Universe: The search for the Las of Self-Organization and Complexity.

The authors also emphasized the beginnings and advances in computing through the pioneering works of:

John von Neumann - Invented a self-reproducing automation to show how machine could perform the most basic function of life - reproduction. He is known as the "father of artificial life."
Allan Turing - His work on computers and their relationship with brains made him the "Father of Artificial Intelligence."
John Hopfield - Showed that there is a mathematical mapping of the Sherrington-Kirkpatrick spin-glass model onto a simple type of fully connected neural network model called Hopfield network.

What I got from this book:

Nothing interests me more than artificial intelligence in my brief exposure to the science of complexity. This book dealt with neural networks so much, I just loved it. On the other hand, its too little - just enough to keep me craving for more!

The foreword by Baruch Blumberg, Nobel laureate, left me with a robust and distinct message that I would like to share with you, and I quote: "Each time an experiment is performed to test a hypothesis, more questions are revealed; there is no limit to the mysteries of nature and to our desire to understand them. The study of complexity offers an opportunity to stand back and consider the global interactions of fundamental units - atoms, elementary particles, genes - to create a synthesis that crosses the borders of scientific disciplines, to see a grand vision of nature.

Complexity is a new field that touches on almost every one of the sciences, and delivering a solid overview without being superficial is an exceedingingly difficult task; authors Coveny and Highfield have created a book that manages just that. They cover the physical, computational, biological and cognitive sciences, in each case with enough detail to really convey the essence of the field while still remaining very readable to the non-specialist reader. (There's a very detailed- and entertaining- annotated bibliography for those looking for more detail.)

While there are currently a number of very good non-technical introductions to complexity theory by such skilled authors as John Casti, Mitchell Feigenbaum and others, this particular volume may well be the best of an excellent lot. Highly recommended to anyone looking for a a non-rigorous, but non-trivial, introduction to the field.

Alright, seeing "this book should be on the shelf next to Roger Penrose's 'The Emperor's New Mind' and James Gleick's 'Chaos'", and another review saying that the book denies Godel's Theorom, confused me for a while. Then I realized that the latter refered to nueral nets. Assuming that the nets referred to are analog, there is no contradiction. Godel's Theorom proved the incompleteness of formal language systems, a.k.a. digital systems, which constitute a smaller information set than analog systems. Mathematically, analog systems do not meet the neccessary conditions for Godel's Proof to apply. However, the claim to 'completeness', if it be made, is ungrounded. Analog systems simply represent a higher information dimension, not an infinite information dimension.

This book starts off well enough, with a fascinating chapter on the limits of mathematics, focusing on Godel's refutation of formalism (the idea that the whole of mathematics can be derived from a set of logical statements), followed by a brief history of computers and the computation. But once the authors begin their explanation of complexity, they come off as smug and overzealous about their field. They seem to take every opportunity to belittle other fields of science, and try to convince us that complexity will provide the ultimate explanaion of every facet of the universe, from biology to physics to chemistry to social sciences.

This may sound like an exaggeration, but it really isn't: at the beginning of their chapter on complexity in chemical reactions, they dismiss the idea that chemistry (and by extension, biochemistry) can be explanied by quantum physics because the calculations it requires are too complicated. I understand that it is difficult to use quantum physics, and that its effects are only significant on the atomic level, but that does not mean that quantum effects do not exist! The chapter on chemistry marks the end of any reasonable explanation of complexity, and by end of the book complexity is almost completely forgotten, as the writing gushes on about neural networks and aritficial life.

It is these later chapters on life and aritificial life that are the most poorly written. The authors commonly say things like "It is becoming clear that obstacles to creating aritfical consciousness may not be as formidable as we had thought", yet provide little proof of this. They basically claim that neural networks are only a few innovations away from becoming fully funcitoning human brains, but they provide a one-sided explanation of their usefulness and fail to mention their failings, especially in cognitive science (which is the study of the brain, of all things). They strongly hint that current ALife programs are creating new life, when they are pretty must just clever programs that manipulate computer memory according to a set of rules. They just don't seem to realize that simulating certain aspects of life with computers and life itself are very different things! We are not even certain that neurons are the basic building block of the brain, yet they are claiming that we now know enough about the brain to create a computerized one in no time. Their argument is very smug and one-sided: the only time they ever mention a criticism to current ALife and AI practices is when they present Roger Penrose's very reasonable hypothesis about how computers cannot simulate intelligence in large part due to their reliance on mathematical logic, which, as Godel proved, can sometimes break down. Yet they quickly dismiss this view, seeming to think that Godel's theorems are nothing more than irrelevant parlor tricks. Their claim that a neural network can be taught to do anything, and therfore can overcome Godel's theorems, is especially poor: we could never teach a human brain to fly, for example, because it (and the body it is in) are not equipped to do this. So why do they think that our arcane artificial neural networks are equipped to create consciousness?

Despite this heavy criticism, however, this book is still quite interesting if you are new to complexity, chaos, and artificial life. The author's overexcitement about their field seems to be common when new branches of science emerge, like when AI was first getting off the ground. If you read this book, just realize that its bold claims may be grounded in false hope.

This book will give you some genuine insight into the emerging (no pun intended) field of Complexity. It presents historical and current research in a way that allows both the researcher and informed layman to get a good grasp on the concepts presented. Both provocative and educational its only flaw is a perhaps too doctrinaire belief that Complexity is the "next step" in science instead of another branch. If you want a good in-depth view of the current state of Chaos and Complexity theories without having to learn all the math this book will give you what you need. It belongs on the shelf next ot Roger Penrose' "The Emperors New Mind" and Gleick's, "Chaos".

An intriguing exploration of organization using advances in philosophy, new science and technology. Aim is to foster insight into ways of organizing productive activity consistent with the nature of human beings and society. Focuses on organizations as complex adaptive systems, emphasizing the capacity to learn, innovate, generate knowledge, and act successfully in a highly competitive environment. Key chapter topics: leadership, learning, freedom, and innovation, creativity and flexibility. This book has enduring value and is as informative and insightful in 2008 as when first published.

This book is a reasonably well-known and very well-recommended book on organizational theory. I have actually owned it for a while (given to me by a former boss) but I had not gotten around to reading it. Given the current challenge that I have of setting up my own department, it seemed like a reasonable time to read it.

McMaster likes to see himself as a philosopher of business, and the book is smarter than most business books. (Even if I wouldn't go so far as to call him a philosopher of business, assuming that I knew what that would even mean.) I find that most business writers actively grate on me and I find their conclusions both obvious and unhelpful. By contrast, McMaster raises some really interesting points and he expresses himself both well and clearly without losing the necessary complexity.

Unfortunately, the way the he structured the book made it very nearly unreadable for me. I have uploaded a page to the image library for this book here at Amazon so that you can see what I mean about the page layout.

In addition to the main text, McMaster puts a summary of the points in the margin and calls out examples in the grey box in the bottom of the page. As an occasional trope, this isn't that bad, but this structure persists throughout the book. I assume that it was supposed to make it easier to read and digest for busy managers. The result for me, however, was that the reading experience was broken and that my eye and attention were constantly confused about where to focus. I ended up reading the main text first, and then going back and reading the grey box examples. This seriously irritated me, and I lost a lot of the impact of the book. Perhaps this says something about me as a linear thinking but I would far rather have seen the examples integrated into the text. I would actively avoid buying another book structured like this in the future.

I did appreciate the annotated pointers to further reading that McMaster included at the back of the book.

This is one of the unique and powerful works on living organizations. It should be read by everyone who likes original contributions to the literature.

A clearly written, conceptually lucid, practical guide to leading self-organizing organizations which can respond effectively to the demands of their environment. McMaster emphasizes that changed thinking and speaking precede changed organizations. Mechanical thinking won't make it in an age which demands organically structured organizations utilizing every ounce of intelligence of every member. Leaders who want control will wind up with no organization to lead; leaders who want to enable everyone in the organization to operate at their own maximum of creativity, freedom and productivity (no contradiction here) will survive and thrive. Amen. Applicable to non-profits and other organizations as well as businesses

Arie de Geus, whose view of The Living Company appears in Harvard Business Review M/A 1997 says of this book: "We will fail to realise the potential of organisations until we see them as organisms in their own right and intelligence is the source of an organisation's capacity for survival. These are the basic hypotheses in Mike McMaster's thinking which, then, leads towards his illuminating ideas on organisational design and away from much of the mechanistic thinking of recent management theory". Sample David's view on innovation (page 133): "Corporations that are known for innovation are specifically designed to create occasions for innovation and support innovative activities. They include reward systems, communication practices, investment, blending people and ideas and appropriate reporting structures. In corporations not specifically designed for innovation, the innovative capacity is mostly displayed by individuals who are sufficiently powerful to get their ideas accepted. Given the lack of design to support such activity, the relative organisational innovative expression in such corporations is quite low." McMasters goes on to define innovation but notice some carefully chosen nuances in the words he uses; "Our operational definition of innnovation is THAT ACTIVITY WHICH RESULTS IN A CHANGE THAT HAS USEFULNESS BEYOND A CURRENT APPICATION AND THAT ALTERS THE ABILITY OF THE SYSTEM AS A WHOLE". Innovation increases the flexibility, complexity or computational ability of the larger system." Innovation is not therefore a natural thing for corporate boards to direct if they are paying too much attention to counting up last quarter's figures or downsizing your future. Anyway, McMasters goes on to discuss many other subtleties regarding creativity. For example : "In a group or team, creativity occurs in dialogue itself. An individual may have originated and be indentified with a creative idea. Yet, if an idea is a group creation, it is the result of the interplay of the participants, both for and against the idea. Each individual has contributed to the thinking, the creative process and the creation itself in ways that are not always obvious." If you feel passionately about questioning the value of constructs like these - would you like to join a worldwide e-mail summit on ORGANISING CREATIVITY? To do so e-mail me, Chris Macrae, editor of Brand Chartering Handbook & MELNET www.brad.ac.uk/branding/ E-mail me at wcbn007@easynet.co.uk