Thinking in Complexity The Complex Dynamics of Matter, Mind, and Mankind

Berlin: Springer Verlag. Near Fine with No dust jacket as issued. 1996. Second Edition. Hardcover. 3540606378 . Only slight wear to pictorial paper covered boards; A bright, solid book, text unmarked; 9.30 X 6.10 X 0.90 inches; 349 pages; The revised second edition of Mainzer's popular book. The theory of nonlinear complex systems has become a successful problem-solving approach in the natural sciences from laser physics, quantum chaos, and meteorology to computer simulations of cell growth in biology. It is now recognized that many of our social, ecological, and political problems are also of a global, complex, and nonlinear nature. And one of the most exciting contemporary topics is the idea that even the human mind is governed largely by the nonlinear dynamics of complex systems. In this wide-ranging but concise treatment, Prof. Mainzer discusses, in a nontechnical language, the common framework behind these endeavors. Emphasis is given to the evolution of new structures in natural and cultural systems and we see clearly how the new integrative approach can give insights not available from traditional reductionistic methods. .