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Simply Complexity: A Clear Guide to Complexity Theory Paperback – October 1, 2009

4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 130 ratings

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The new branch of science which will reveal how to avoid the rush hour, overcome cancer, and find the perfect date

What do traffic jams, stock market crashes, and wars have in common? They are all explained using complexity, an unsolved puzzle that many researchers believe is the key to predicting - and ultimately solving - everything from terrorist attacks and pandemic viruses right down to rush hour traffic congestion. Complexity is considered by many to be the single most important scientific development since general relativity and promises to make sense of no less than the very heart of the Universe. Using it, scientists can find order emerging from seemingly random interactions of all kinds, from something as simple as flipping coins through to more challenging problems such as predicting shopping habits, the patterns in modern jazz, and the growth of cancer tumours.
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Johnson's book fills a long-overdue need for an engaging semipopular book about complexity science, one that is also strong on the underlying scientific and theoretical concepts." "Highly recommended." ― Choice

"Neil Johnson has provided a readable account of the science of complexity" ―
Oxford Times

"This is a wonderful book, simultaneously deep and highly readable. It provides unexpected insights into a wild array of subjects ranging from jazz to traffic jams to war." ―
Michael Spagat - Professor of Economics, Royal Holloway College, University of London

'It's lucidly explained, engagingly written and constantly surprising: complexity made simple!' ―
Philip Ball

"An excellent introduction to complexity -- a branch of science that every one of us in our time should be aware of." ―
Pak Ming Hui - Professor of Physics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

About the Author

Neil Johnson is the head of a new inter-disciplinary research group in Complexity at University of Miami in Florida. Previously he was Professor of Physics and co-director of research collaboration into Complexity at Oxford University.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ 1851686304
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Oneworld Publications; Reprint edition (October 1, 2009)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 256 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9781851686308
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1851686308
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.1 x 0.8 x 7.8 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 130 ratings

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Neil F. Johnson
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4.3 out of 5 stars
130 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book provides a good introduction to complexity. They find the ideas presented insightful and worth learning. However, opinions differ on the reading pace - some find it easy and enjoyable to read, while others feel the prose lacks engagement and is boring.

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27 customers mention "Complexity"19 positive8 negative

Customers find the book an excellent introduction to complexity. They appreciate the insightful and easy-to-understand subject matter, making it valuable for non-mathematicians. The book covers several problems with a straightforward approach and provides a good understanding of complex systems.

"...The real strength of this book lies in Johnson's unsophisticated and plain approach towards Complexity Science which he couples with many real world..." Read more

"...As a result, the book provides a good understanding of some of the trees in the forest of complexity science, but not much sense of the overall..." Read more

"...So insightful yet very easy and enjoyable to read. Get this book! Read it! You will be amazed." Read more

"THis is a great book! A smooth introduction to complex systems with some examples of real-world application featuring complex system behaviour...." Read more

13 customers mention "Reading pace"6 positive7 negative

Customers have different views on the book's reading pace. Some find it easy and enjoyable to read, with a simple form that connects many dots. Others feel the prose is not engaging enough for the stated audience, repetitive, and boring.

"...Bottom line: There was nothing so compelling or unique in this book that would cause me to recommend it in spite of its shortcomings...." Read more

"...So insightful yet very easy and enjoyable to read. Get this book! Read it! You will be amazed." Read more

"...Very much geared to the general public but the prose is not engaging enough for the stated audience and not quantitative enough for those who want a..." Read more

"...Each concept is expressed simply, clearly and concisely and examples are perfectly chosen." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on February 6, 2010
    If you are unfamiliar with Complexity Theory ("The Science of Sciences") then this is a great book to start with. Neil Johnson has done an impeccable job of keeping the intricacies of Complexity within a very manageable framework that any layman can understand. Take this quote for example: "Complexity can be summed up by the phrase "Two's company, three is a crowd." In other words, Complexity Science can be seen as the study of the phenomena which emerge from a collection of interacting objects - and a crowd is a perfect example of such an emergent phenomenon, since it is a phenomenon which emerges from a collection of interacting people." The real strength of this book lies in Johnson's unsophisticated and plain approach towards Complexity Science which he couples with many real world examples. But neither does Johnson leave anything out; Self-Similarity, Fractals, Power-Laws, Networks, etc. - it's all here.

    My only complaint about this book comes on page 100. Here, Johnson explains how the "six degrees of separation" network was conceived by Stanly Milgram in 1967. I am sure that Johnson knows that this was debunked by later research, but Johnson fails to mention this in the book (one only has to look to Wikipedia, Complexity: A Guided Tour by Melanie Mitchell or The Numbers Game: The Commonsense Guide to Understanding Numbers in the News, in Politics, and inLife for confirmation. I do not fault Johnson here because given the 'basic' level at which this book was written, he probably didn't feel like complicating the issue - the point he was trying to make was satisfied - and he therefore surely didn't feeling like going into the whole mess by upending the urban legend. So, with that aside, I do recommend this book as a great introduction to Complexity and recommend Complexity: A Guided Tour by Melanie Mitchell for the interested reader as a great book to continue learning about Complexity Science.
    76 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on July 7, 2010
    Complexity science is a broad field with vague boundaries, so no single book can cover the whole field in depth. In this book, Neil Johnson focuses on a definition of complexity associated with a particular class of computational models, and he describes these models and their resulting behaviors at a level suitable for the general reader (somewhat detailed descriptions, but essentially no formal math). He has a PhD in physics and has himself done considerable research on these types of models (see the references at the end of the book), so his knowledge in this area is fairly authoritative.

    For Johnson, a complex system has the following characteristics:

    (1) A population of multiple (at least three) interacting objects or "agents" which typically form a network. These objects may be very simple, but they don't have to be.

    (2) Competition among the objects for limited resources. As part of this overall competition, there can also be local cooperation within the system.

    (3) Feedback processes, which give the system memory and history.

    (4) Ability of the objects to adapt their strategies in response to their history.

    (5) Ability of the system to interact with its environment.

    (6) Self-organization of system behavior, without the need for a central controller.

    (7) Emergence of non-trivial patterns of behavior, including a complicated mixture of ordered and disordered behavior. This can include chaotic behavior, as well as extreme ordered behavior (eg, traffic jams, market crashes, human diseases and epidemics, wars, etc.).

    Johnson gives many examples of complex systems, and a jazz band is among the most interesting of these examples (the jazz performance is the behavior of the system).

    Here are some of the key results from the models he describes:

    (1) Even if the objects comprising the population of the system are complicated and heterogeneous (eg, people), this variability tends to "average out" in a way that allows the objects to be modeled as being fairly simple and homogeneous (at least as a first approximation).

    (2) Due to competition, the population of objects will often become polarized into two opposing groups (eg, bears and bulls in financial markets, opposing political parties, etc.). This competition tends to reduce fluctuations in the behavior of the system.

    (3) It's sometimes possible to steer the behavior of a system by manipulating a subset of the system's objects.

    (4) Network structure tends to make complex systems more robust.

    (5) The overall behavior of a system, and the ability of individual objects in the system obtain resources, depends on both the amount of available resources and the level of connectivity (network structure) between objects. When resources are only moderate, adding a small amount of connectivity widens the disparity between successful and unsuccessful objects, whereas adding a high level of connectivity reduces this disparity. By contrast, when resources are plentiful, adding a small amount of connectivity is sufficient to increase the average success rate and enable most objects to be successful. These patterns are consistent with what I've observed in the competition among engineering firms over the years (including during the current recession, a time of reduced resources).

    (6) The behavioral outcomes of complex systems often follow a power law distribution, with smaller events being most common, but with extreme events also occurring more often than one might expect.

    One of my main motivations to read this book was to get insight into how malignant tumors might be modeled as complex systems, with the hope that such models might provide clues regarding more effective ways to treat cancer. I was pleased to see that Johnson does discuss cancer at several points in the book, but I was disappointed to find that his discussion of cancer modeling is relatively superficial. Nevertheless, I'm firmly convinced that cancer is best modeled as a complex system, so I believe that much more research along these lines is (urgently) needed.

    Overall, I do recommend this book. Johnson is qualified to write it, and it works well as an easily understood introduction at a level of detail suitable for general readers. However, again, keep in mind that the scope of the book is fairly narrow, so many important topics aren't mentioned at all. As a result, the book provides a good understanding of some of the trees in the forest of complexity science, but not much sense of the overall forest. For a broader introduction to complexity science, I recommend Complexity: A Guided Tour by Melanie Mitchell.
    84 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on August 6, 2015
    One of the best books I've read this year. I HIGHLY recommend it to anyone who wonders how complicate problems (hint: they all involve human behavior) could be modeled and possibly solved. So insightful yet very easy and enjoyable to read. Get this book! Read it! You will be amazed.
    2 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on August 22, 2011
    THis is a great book! A smooth introduction to complex systems with some examples of real-world application featuring complex system behaviour.

    I have read other books on the same topic, but this is very direct. Each concept is expressed simply, clearly and concisely and examples are perfectly chosen.
    3 people found this helpful
    Report

Top reviews from other countries

  • Yelian
    5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
    Reviewed in Canada on December 4, 2017
    Awesome book!! Excellent way to start to grasp the wide ranging applicability of complexity theory
  • Andrew
    3.0 out of 5 stars Review
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 9, 2018
    I have read better books on the subject.
  • Caesar Nestor
    2.0 out of 5 stars After reading the book you are left where you started ...
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 12, 2014
    After reading the book you are left where you started. This book is too popular in the sense that it does not help you to gain more than anecdotal knowledge of the field.
  • Danny
    2.0 out of 5 stars Two Stars
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 24, 2015
    good