About this title: A report on the order that lies at the heart of even the most complex systems--from the origins of life to the working of giant corporations to the rise and fall of great civilizations. In Kauffman's view, we are now discovering that the range of spontaneous order is much greater than we had supposed--that self-organization is the great undiscovered principle of nature. Kauffman contends that complexity itself triggers self-organization--that if enough molecules pass a certain threshold they begin to self-organize into a living cell. Kauffman develops this insights over an extraordinary range ...
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Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Date Published: 1995
ISBN-13:9780195095999ISBN:0195095995
Description: Very Good. Minor shelf wear. GoodwillnyBooks is committed to providing each customer with the highest standard of customer service. You may return new items within 30 days of delivery for a full refund. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Date Published: 1996
ISBN-13:9780195111309ISBN:0195111303
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Owner stamp inside front cover. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 336 p. Contains: Illustrations. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Date Published: 1996-11-21
ISBN-13:9780195111309ISBN:0195111303
Description: Very Good. Mild bumping\wear from handling; Minimal rubbing to covers; Minimal soiling to page edges; ** Free USPS tracking and confirm on US orders ** read more
Edition: 1st edition, 1st issue, w/ 1 commencing numerical sequence
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Oxford University Press, NY and Oxford
Date Published: 1995
ISBN-13:9780195095999ISBN:0195095995
Description: Very fine, in excellent, priced dust jacket. No chips, no tears. Solid, sound text block has no writing, no marginalia, no highlighting, no bookplates, etc.; no remainder marks, NOT ex-library; NOT BC ed. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Date Published: 1995
ISBN-13:9780195095999ISBN:0195095995
Description: Fine in Good jacket. This book is in fine condition. The binding is tight and pages are clean. It appears to have had little if any use. The dust jacket is in good condition with some bumps, scuffs and rubs. There are some small tears on the top edge and side edges. read more
Description: Kauffman, Stuart., Oxford University Press, 1995, c1995, 1st Edition, boards & cloth w/gilt spine titles, fine w/vg dj (small tear in back panel), 321 pp w/index & bibliography, B & W photographic & graphical illus., tall 8vo, "...the forces for order that lie at the edge of chaos. " read more
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Oxford Univ Pr on Demand, Cary, North Carolina, U.S.A.
Date Published: 1995
ISBN-13:9780195095999ISBN:0195095995
Description: Very Good Plus in Very Good Plus jacket. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" Like new-crisp, bright, and unmarked. Excellent dust jacket in a new Mylar protective cover. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN-13:9780195095999ISBN:0195095995
Description: New. 0195095995 Brand NEW Hardcover with beautiful Dust Jacket, ~ We would ship within 24 Hours, reply to customer emails ASAP, accept returns and offer 100% satisfaction guarantee! read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Oxford University Press, New York
Date Published: 1995
ISBN-13:9780195095999ISBN:0195095995
Description: Good in good dust jacket. Highlighting/underlining. Some underlining. Inscription with stamp. Tight binding. Price on 1st page. D.J. has shelf wear, curling, creasing, tear at one corner. Sewn binding. Paper over boards. 336 p. Audience: General/trade. Diagrams. Illustrations. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Oxford Univ Pr
Date Published: 1995
ISBN-13:9780195095999ISBN:0195095995
Description: Near Fine in Very Good + jacket. Size: 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall; Type: Hardback Book looks New & Unread-But top & bottom os pine shelf dented. DJ has slight wear to top & bottom edge of spine, and back side has surface rubbing. SKU #T-983. read more
Edition: First Edition, First Printing
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Oxford University Press, NY
Date Published: 1995
ISBN-13:9780195095999ISBN:0195095995
Description: B/W Illus. Near Fine in Near Fine jacket. 8 vo. Dj w/unclipped price; 321 pages. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Date Published: 1996-11-21
ISBN-13:9780195111309ISBN:0195111303
Description: Very Good. Light wear to covers. Text clean and unmarked. The binding is tight and square. Name and date written inside. Your Satisfaction is Guaranteed! read more
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardcover; Second Printing
ISBN-13:9780195095999ISBN:0195095995
Description: Near Fine in Near Fine dust jacket. Hardcover. Oxford University Press, USA, 1995. 1st Edition/2nd Printing. Near Fine Book in Near Fine Dust Jacket. Light shelf wear to Book and Jacket. Overall, a clean and tight copy to add to a collection or read and enjoy. Dust Jacket protected with a new archival cover. Bubble wrapped and shipped promptly in a box. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Date Published: 1996
ISBN-13:9780195111309ISBN:0195111303
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Appears unread. Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Appears unread. Trade paperback 336 p. Illustrated. read more
"This book is really good, though needs to be taken with a grain of salt since its super theoretical. Basically Kauffman is trying to simulate with mathematical models what occurs in evolution. He tries to simulate adaptive mutations and such (in genetic terms) with a mathematical formula/model. Its a nice thought, but doesnt work so well when you simply cannot make a model complex enough to include a reasonable amount of the variables we encounter in everyday life... oh well, still a very provocative and thought stimulating book. Id love to chat with anyone about this book if you ever read it... James/Nicole."
"Rarely do I gain such insight from a book, but Kauffman was able to tie together all my interests in biology, economics, anthropology, into a single unified theory of spontaneous order/self-organization.
Although the concept were world-view changing, the context, outside of some beautiful prose, is dull and teeth clenching dry/complex at times... at many times. The book itself was recommended to me by an MIT graduate student in Complex Systems Science, straight from his reading list, I believe. The arguments were much too specific and complex for me to follow all the way through.
On the periphery of the density of the case for such a bold unified theory of origins, is a beautiful view of the universe as a mix of variables forming a complex system that has an innate and inevitable drive toward self-organization, increasing complexity, and life. The paradigm shift offered by this book is that life is not an unlikely, improbably chance occurrence; Jacques Monod's "chance caught on a wing"; but rather an expected outcome from the interactions of a complex system with multiple inputs. It starts from an auto-catalytic process of molecular interactions, molecules acting on themselves, creating a disequilibrium. A molecular storm system, if you will, feeding on inputs and spitting outputs. All you need from there is to be able to maintain this disequilibrium that drives itself to supra-critical behavior. Where life begins from that point is a matter of definition, mere semantics.
The most beautiful idea is that whatever it is that we are, is merely the refined outcome of a molecular storm that was started billions of years ago, and is still surging against entropy and equilibrium.
Kauffman, himself, is a biologist, but he works in part of an interdisciplinary team of scientists -- and is seeking laws of self-organization applicable to any complex system, be it biological, economic, cultural, etc.
This new theory attempts to patch up all the holes of natural selection, such as those early situations where the blind choreographer cannot make effective selections in a system which is too simple, too chaotic, and undeveloped for selection to begin to work its magic. It also provides ammunition for organization of corporate structures in such a way as to attempt to avoid the pitfalls of centralized predictive planning (which is increasingly futile in a world getting exponentially more complex) and harness the power of decentralization and co-evolution.
Its an interesting idea presented in this book, which seems almost obvious, but has not been accepted in economics. The idea that diversity begets diversity, and in turn, diversity begets growth. This is a powerful idea in that the way growth is measured today does not take into account the diversity of products and ideas in the economy and marketplace of ideas. Such an economic "law" would most certainly favor a minimally regulated market system to any kind of centrally planned alternative.
Finally, what this book offers, perhaps above all else, is a story of emergent order that can offer an awe and inspiration, perhaps even a spiritual experience, to those atheists and agnostics that have had their special central place under God's warm and steady gaze ripped asunder by the growth of scientific thought -- instead of giving us a creation story that is a cold, improbable, and haphazard mistake that arose from the swamps of a primordial earth, it gives us one in which humanity is an inevitable and expected outcome of the laws of this curious universe. What a wonderful theory! And what wonders yet remain eager to find us behind the ever settling fog of our ignorance?"
"Kaufmann's writing style is a bit cliched and repetitive, but he's very clear. Even I could understand his explanations of peptide molecules, biochemistry, etc. and how these concepts of life-origin theories relate to other systems mathematically and otherwise. And his idea here is definitely worth considering, even revolutionary."
"An interesting speculative read. Discusses the order in the universe, particularly that pertaining to evolution and self-organization, in the general as well as the biological sense. Examines the concepts of order and chaos by means of various models."
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