Deep Simplicity: Bringing Order to Chaos and Complexity

I read a lot of books and I was not sure what to expect from the book and it is a bit dated (copyright 2004) but in reading through it, it seemed as if it had been written very recently. The topics covered include basic chaos theory but it is built from the ground up and indeed most of the book lays the groundwork to give a good understanding of what underpins chaos theory. I am a chemist by training and work in a technical field so most of the material covered is not new but the way it is connected was impressive and it provided me with insights that I should have known but had never put together. My two sons are chemists and they had similar comments. I truly wish I had read the book a decade ago. While it is not a religious book, the message that it conveys is positive and uplifting. For the scientist or non-scientist I would strongly recommend this book as a way of understanding how nature works at a fundamental level and why things that seem complex are really simple at the most basic level.

Deep Simplicity is the first book I have read on the topic of chaos and complexity which manages to explain the underlying concepts and the history of the field in a clear, precise, structured way and yet remains an entertaining read thanks to John Gribbin's great writing. The author manages to untangle the seemingly paradox relationship between simplicity and complexity across different fields and applications.

Having only just read the book 6 years after publication, I don't typically write a review for a book that so many others have already provided excellent reviews. I make an exception if the author provides a stunningly good read as John Gribbin does in Deep Simplicity.It's a quick and poignant subject survey. It is thoroughly applicable across scientific disciplines. It is by degrees overcome by events in specific areas of which the perpetual boogeyman of gravitational theory and the esoteric P versus NP problem of complexity have both evolved into a real world problems as revealed in collecting simple understandings of the expected LHC sensor outputs.Gribbin provides a curious slant to order and chaos through an unfamiliar evolution and synergy among Newton's statics & dynamics through Maxwell's electromagnetics, Fourier's thermodynamics and the limits of mathematical philosophy in Poincare's `n-body' insolubility. I enjoyed the path that Gribbin's takes the reader to understand his argument. There are detours that the topically familiar reader will identify to depart, by degrees, Gribbin's conclusion. This in no way detracts from the Gribbin's effort, rather, Gribbin's argument is a springboard to further development. That there are newly emergent paths to consider after only 6 years of the book's publication speaks to the dynamic subject.The physical sciences have evolved to require a `new' science for information extraction of the many constructs of physical, mathematical and logical operations to integrate in language that carries meaning. Gribbin's hits all around the requirement. Watching IBM's tour de force "Watson" demolish his human competition on Jeopardy through the application of knowledge algorithms is important in the premise Gribbin's initiates.Read Deep Simplicity if for no other reason than gaining a better grasp of the mathematical power properties of complex systems and the significance and real world application of 1/f noise management.

This book is an investment, but it is worth the time as it will definitely make you smarter.

Good