“A
beautifully succinct primer … most recommended”
Time Out
If
a butterfly flaps its wings in Brazil, does
it cause a tornado in Texas? Chaos, the most
important advance in science since the advent
of Quantum Theory, attempts to answer such
baffling questions. The discovery of randomness
in apparently predictable physical systems
has evolved into a new science that declares
the universe to be far more unpredictable
than we have ever imagined.
Introducing
Chaos explains how chaos makes its presence
felt in many varieties of event, from the
fluctuation of animal populations to the ups
and downs of the stock market. It also examines
the roots of chaos in modern mathematics and
physics, and explores the relationship between
chaos and complexity, the new unifying theory
which suggests that all complex systems evolve
from a few simple rules.
This
is an accessible introduction to an astonishing
and controversial theory that could dramatically
change our view of the natural world and our
place in a turbulent universe.
***
Ziauddin
Sardar is Professor of Postcolonial Studies
at City University, London, co-author of the
international bestsellers Why Do People Hate
America? and American Dream, Global Nightmare
(Icon, 2002, 2004) and a widely known author,
journalist and critic.
Iwona
Abrams is a graduate of the Krakow Academy
of Fine Art and the Royal College of Art in
London.
