Complexity Books

If you are intrested in how biological systems can be simulated via computer or in what contect computer programs or computer simulations can be called alive -- this is the book to read.

Eventhou the articials in this book are technical reports from a scientific conference most provide easy reading for the layperson.

Artificial Life is a fassinating scientific endevor that seeks to do for biology what Artificial Instelligence did for psychology -- model biological processes, instead of mental processes on the computer and look to biology as a model for computation -- using techniques such as Genetic Algorithms, Cellular Automata and Neural Networks.

I find that all the books I've read that were published by the Santa Fe Institute to be intresting -- how ever the Artifical Life series is the easiest for an armchair scientist to grasp.

I am currently taking a graduate course in a computational theory/theoretical computer science, so I am looking for any resource that can help me get a better understanding of the theoretical foundations. I found Dr. Rich's book very helpful in assisting me understand theoretical concepts that have practical applications, or understand the theoretical concepts that are usually obscured beneath the
maze of the mathematical symbolism, but that are otherwise not that difficult to grasp.

I have found her visual depictions of the problems very helpful, and I have specially liked how she connects theoretical computers science (e.g. halting, undecidability) with common software engineering tools and tasks such as compilers and programming languages.

Standard topics are covered as in other leading books in the field (Sipser, Hopcroft, Papadimitrou, ). The difference is that it seems that Dr. Rich has spent more time explaining and illustrating concepts (book is 1100 pages long). I still recommend other books as the primary sources as they are as complete as they are concise, but I also recommend
using this book if nothing as the supplementary learning aid.

This book helped me understand the problems required for my homeworks and exams, so, if for nothing else, I have to give it just for that fact five stars.

I have not read all of this book and to be frank some of it is beyond my ability, but quite a lot of it is not. In any case this is not the type of book that you pick up and read in one sitting.

The book presents a unifying theory that covers a great many phenomena in mathematics and science. The basic concept is deceptively simple: transform a problem, solve the transformed problem and then reverse transform it. One elementary example is to mulitiply two numbers by adding their logarithms. A second is to communicate across a long distance by tranforming voice into electrical current.

This simple idea has wide applicability. Most of the book presents examples from a wide range of fields. They will make you look at things in a different light. Bypasses deserves a wider audience.

The Jones and Klar volume is a great and timely condensation of California Prehistory. It is strongest when it is discussing key research questions and directing interested readers to the volumes of studies that cover the span of California prehistory. It is a must read and cite for anyone active in the field of California archaeology.

This is a nice collection of wolframs work on cellular automata (which first appeared as a number of papers in various physics journals). It is a nice coverage of cellular automata, but it would have been nice to give more credit to von Neuman for his pioneering work in cellular automata theory.

There is also an annoying habit for all of his work to concentrate on deterministic cellular automata, and the mathematics is constrained to this. Recent work has indicated that the origin of complexity in our universe is from random sources that are preserved.. not that the complexity all came from the initial conditions.

It is especially interesting to note in his book how the different rules of cellular automata play out to create varying degrees of complexity. It takes a very specific rule set indeed to allow for interesting complex behaviors to show up, as evinced by the long search Conway undertook to discover "life".

Hopefully Wolfram will comment on the recent research that indicates that complexity is introduced into our universe through nondeterministic phenomena. He also should have presented Fredkins ideas about reversible computation to more fully flush out the relationship between cellular automata, computability and reversibility.

This is one of the best books i've read on the subject. Specifically because it gives a entry point to practical application in many fields. It also is very extensive in defining word origins use in the text. The illustrations were all helpful.

This book is truly at the cutting edge of social science. Although chaos theory has supposedly already had its day and been dismissed as the latest intellectual flavor of the month by many in the hard sciences, it has only moved into psychology and the social sciences over approximately the last decade. Those in the social sciences who have studied chaos theory have found something of immeasuarable worth: "nothing less than validation," as Dr. Butz stresses in his preface.

I don't think that anyone can read this book and not realize that chaos theory is far from a fad but rather represents a new way of thinking about all of reality. This is an important book that deserves to become a standard introduction to chaos theory for those in the social sciences for years to come. Many will not need to go further. Those who do will find ample material to point them further on their individual explorations.

Chronicles of a Sage: Simple Complexities is a profound venture into the inner workings of the human psyche. Hexing free-verse explores the complexities that foster such extreme emotions as depression, angst, internal numbness and defiance. Completing every chapter of absorbing verse you will read through discerning accounts simplifying the complexities of the undecipherable. Have you ever wondered why you feel depressed? Have you ever tried to translate your deepest feelings and came up blank? Have you or has someone you've known ever suffered from abuse and have no idea how to overcome its emotional plague? Have you ever wondered what makes an abuser tick? Deborah Simpson exposes her innermost deliberations based on real life experiences in this unprecedented volume of Chronicles of a Sage. Prepare yourself for a rousing journey of realization.

Combinatorial Optimisation : Networks and Matroids by Eugene Lawler examines shortest paths, network flows, bipartite matching, non bipartite matching. More importantly there is an excellent introduction to matroid theory including matroids and the greedy algorithm, matroid intersections and matroid parity problems, some of these Lawler's own results.

However there is not much on NP completeness, since this book was published in 1976. For a more to date version of events in combinatorial optimisation one might want to look at Papadimitriou and Steglitz's book on combinatorial optimisation (quite old too, considering this was published in 1982), Ahuja, Magnanti and Orlin's book on Network algorithms, Hochbaum's book on approximation algorithms and Cook, Cunnigham,Pulleyblank and Schrijver's book on combinatorial optimisation (listed in the order they were published).

Lawler's book is extremely well written and I am delighted that this book is now published by Dover, and hence easily affordable.

For over five decades the author, heads of Israel's largest hesder yeshiva, has provided teachings to thousands of students. COMMITMENT AND COMPLEXITY reveals these teachings for Torah students and Jewish peoples around the world, providing his thoughts on modern events and issues. Any scholarly adult Jewish library will find it packed with comments and insights essential to understanding Jewish culture and its direction.