Sync - How Order Emerges From Chaos In the Universe, Nature, and Daily Life

Steven Strogatz

Hyperion

2004

352 páginas

11h 44m

ISBN-10: 0786887214

The tendency to synchronize may be the most mysterious and pervasive drive in all of nature. It has intrigued some of the most brilliant minds of the 20th century, including Albert Einstein, Richard Feynman, Norbert Wiener, Brian Josephson, and Arthur Winfree.

At once elegant and riveting, Sync tells the story of the dawn of a new science. Steven Strogatz, a leading mathematician in the fields of chaos and complexity theory, explains how enormous systems can synchronize themselves, from the electrons in a superconductor to the pacemaker cells in our hearts. He shows that although these phenomena might seem unrelated on the surface, at a deeper level there is a connection, forged by the unifying power of mathematics.

Resenhas (1)

0

This is a very well written book. I knew Steven Strogatz from his “Joy of X” podcast and his style of writing is pretty much the same: a very good conversation. I also knew him indirectly from Duncan Watts book Six Degrees: The Science of a Connected Age as he was Duncan’s PhD advisor. “Sync” is about how synchronicity is more pervasive in life than we perceive.

Strogatz guides the reader through fireflies, coupled oscillators, circadian rhythm, menstrual cycles, quantum physics, small-world networks, fads, herd behavior and even touches briefly on consciousness. He mixes tales from his own research with an overview of seminal works from other leading researchers in the field. There are also some funny anecdotes peppered around the book. One strong point of the book is the simple language and good analogies used by the author to explain the concepts. This simplicity, however, is also a weaknesss. I think in a couple of examples an equation or two would have helped the reader more than an analogy. The quantum physics part was a bit hard to visualize and understand with just words.

Overall this book deserves a solid 4 out 5.