Deep Simplicity: Bringing Order to Chaos and Complexity by John Gribbin

Deep Simplicity: Bringing Order to Chaos and Complexity Reviews

• 
  Josh Hamacher

  This book is about chaos and complexity, how the interaction of simple rules can result in complex behavior.
  
  The first quarter of the book is a remarkably readable history of math. Starting with Galileo and moving forward to modern times, Gribbin mentions most of the major discoveries that led to the modern understanding of chaos. I was very much looking forward to the rest of the book after finishing this second chapter.
  
  Unfortunately the rest of the book was a minor disappointment. Without a historical narrative to tie everything together and keep it moving, Gribbin seemed to skip back and forth at random between different complex behaviors. The book remained relatively readable, but I had a hard time keeping track of what the major theme of each chapter was supposed to be. Many of the examples were truly fascinating, which kept me reading, but I feel the organization of the book could have been significantly better.
  
  It also rubbed me the wrong way that a large percentage of the footnotes were references to other books by Gribbin - at some points it was almost as if this book was nothing but a large advertisement. Gribbin also seemed to try to interject humor into some passages but most of those attempts fell flat, in my opinion.
• 
  Mohammed Yusuf

  أشياء كبيرة تحدث نتيجة لحوادث صغيرة , هكذا كان لورنز يحاول تقريب الفكرة فقال مجازاً أن رفرفة فراشة في منطقة قد تقود لزلزال في منطقة أخرى , الكتاب علمي بكتابة أدبية جميلة
  
  ولي بعد الملاحظات :
  
  يبين هذا الكتاب التداخل الكبير بين علوم كالبيولوجيا و الرياضيات و الكيمياء مع الفيزياء ولا ننسى الانثروبولوجيا
  
  من داخل الكتاب تلاحظ كيف أن كثير من النظريات تبدأ على أساس علمي مثلاً ومن ثم تصبح تعتمد على الطابع التخيلي ومن ثم إثبات هذا التخيل , حيث يحتاج الأمر لثقة بالنفس وتحديات كبيرة
  
  هذه المعلومات عن الشواش والتعقيد التي تنبع من حوادث بسيطة يمكن تطبيقها في مجالات عديدة حتى ولو نظرية كالنظريات الأدبية مثلاً أو السياسية
  
  القوانين التي تقوم عليها الكثير من العلوم تمت صياغتها في الأغلب منذ زمن بعيد والآن في زمننا مجرد تعديلات تجرى عليها ولكن بتطبيقات على مدى واسع
  
  كثير من العلماء بالخصوص الفيزيائيين يرون الكون بناءاً على علمهم ي��مثل ذلك حتى في الأشياء الصغيرة والعادية مثلاً يقول جريبين ( وهذا يعني بالنسبة لعالم الرياضيات أن جسم الحيوان عبارة عن أسطح كسرية مطوية في حجم محدود هو جسم الحيوان ) هذا حين يتحدث عن مسألة الأبعاد وإختلاف القياسات التي تعتمد على التقريب
  
  الصورة الأدبية الجميلة والخيال كانا عنصرين فعالين في إعجابي بالكتاب مثلاً تشبيه ظاهرة إبتعاد الكويكبات حول المشترى عن الكوكب وعن مدارها ومن ثم عودتها إلى مدارها فيما يسمى بظاهرة الرنين بالأرجوحة جعلني أتخيلها بصورة أبسط وأجمل
  
  الكتاب مبسط ولكن في نفس الوقت يعتمد على وجود خلفية حيث تحتاج كثير من المعلومات للرجوع لمعلومات أخرى في العادة
  
  
  
  هنا بعض الصور المضحكة وجدتها أثناء بحثي على النت :
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• 
  Vishy

  I have read a few John Gribbin books and loved them all. His book about quantum theory, 'In Search of Schrödinger's Cat', is a classic. I have had 'Deep Simplicity' with me for a long time. I thought it was time to take it out and read it for 'Science September'.
  
  In 'Deep Simplicity', John Gribbin talks about Chaos theory. I remember during my student days one of my classmates was reading about it and he was planning to apply it in his research on business cycles. I don't know whether he was able to do that and whether he came out with interesting predictions which came true. That was probably the first time that I had heard about Chaos theory. In essence, as John Gribbin describes it, Chaos theory is simple. It tries to study systems which start with simple origins but result in complex patterns and behaviour. And it also tries to study what happens if some minor changes are made at the start. The conclusion is that minor changes in the initial conditions will lead to complex, unbelievable changes later. That is all there is to Chaos theory. Because it is an interdisciplinary field with applications across different areas like physics, chemistry, biology, geology, economics, the stock market, traffic movement and weather forecasting, there are many different techniques and ways of studying how real world systems behave, when they evolve from simple origins to complex futures. John Gribbin describes some of these across these different fascinating fields. He describes the beauty of fractals and how they are observed in the real world in surprising ways. He talks about something called the 'power law' and describes how it amazes us by manifesting itself in the real world in surprising ways. Gribbin is strong when he talks about physics and its related areas because it is his field, but he also spends considerable time in biology, the evolution of life and the extinction of dinosaurs and other species. It is very fascinating to read.
  
  I enjoyed reading 'Deep Simplicity'. John Gribbin gives a beautiful guided tour of physics in the initial chapters before delving into other branches of science and other fields, while exploring Chaos theory. It is not an easy read, because it demands close attention and contemplation, but it is a rewarding read.
  
  I am giving below the first couple of passages from the introduction to the book which sets the tone for the rest of the book, so that you can get a flavour for the subject and also experience Gribbin's style.
  
  "The world around us seems to be a complex place. Although there are some simple truths that seem to be eternal (apples always fall to the ground, not to the sky; the Sun rises in the east, never in the west), our lives, in spite of modern technology, are still, all too often, at the mercy of complicated processes that produce dramatic changes out of the blue. Weather forecasting is still as much an art as a science; earthquakes and volcanic eruptions strike unpredictably, and seemingly at random; stock-market fluctuations continue to produce boom and bust with no obvious pattern to them. From the time of Galileo (in round numbers, the beginning of the seventeenth century) science made progress – enormous progress – largely by ignoring these complexities, and focusing on the simple questions, looking to explain why apples fall to the ground, and why the Sun rises in the east. Progress was so spectacular, indeed, that by about the middle of the twentieth century all the simple questions had been answered. Concepts such as the general theory of relativity and quantum mechanics explained the overall workings of the Universe on the very large and very small scales respectively, while the discovery of the structure of DNA and the way in which it is copied from generation to generation made life itself, and evolution, seem simple at the molecular level. And yet, the complexity of the world at the human level – at the level of life – remained. The most interesting question of all, the question of how life could have emerged from non-life, remained unanswered.
  It is no surprise that the most complex features of the Universe, which proved most reluctant to yield to the traditional methods of scientific investigation, should exist on our scale. Indeed, we may be the most complex things there are in the Universe. The reason is that on smaller scales entities such as individual atoms behave in a relatively simple way in their one-to-one interactions, and that complicated and interesting things are produced when many atoms are linked together in complicated and interesting ways, to make things like people. But this process cannot continue indefinitely, since if more and more atoms are joined together, their total mass increases to the point where gravity crushes all the interesting structure out of existence. An atom, or even a simple molecule like water, is simpler than a human being because it has little internal structure; a star, or the interior of a planet, is simpler than a human being because gravity crushes any structure out of existence. And that is why science can tell us more about the behaviour of atoms and the internal workings of the stars than it can about the way people behave."
  
  Have you read 'Deep Simplicity' by John Gribbin? What do you think about it?
• 
  Nyamka Ganni

  I don't really get why this book is not popular enough! This is amazing!!
• 
  Guillermo Jiménez

  Había cargado un buen tiempo con este libro, aunque, honestamente, no puedo recordar que me llevó a tomarlo y tenerlo en mi biblioteca, quizá que en la portada diga: “El caos, la complejidad y la aparición de la vida.
  
  En una de esas reacomodadas que damos quienes tenemos un montón de libros, lo vi y lo tomé para desempolvarlo, el título me hacía eco al de
  Simplejidad, de Jeffrey Kluger, así que decidí leer la introducción, que, además, es muy breve.
  
  En la introducción deja muy claro de qué trata el libro:
  

  algunos sistemas son muy sensibles a sus condiciones de partida, de tal modo que una diferencia mínima en el ‘impulso’ inicial que les damos ocasiona una gran diferenciaen cuanto a cómo van a acabar

  
  y
  

  existe una retroalimentación, de manera que lo que un sistema hace afecta su propio comportamiento.

  
  
  Luego de escribir eso, pasa a platicarnos que consultó esto a la “persona más inteligente que conozco”, y lo nombra cariñosamente: Jim Lovelock: y listo, con esto bastó para animarme a leer este librazo.
  
  Ya Taleb nos ha dejado más que claro que cualquier libro que pueda encerrarse en un par de frases o que pueda resumirse: no vale la pena ser leído. El libro de Gribbin es una buena confirmación a esa idea: ya les platiqué exactamente de qué trata el libro, sin embargo, no lo resume, no lo abarca en su totalidad.
  
  La realidad es que es un texto disfrutable de inicio a fin.
  
  La teoría de caos es la que establece que pequeños cambios pueden causar resultados divergentes en sistemas dinámicos, algo que quizá ya hemos leído por ahí, o visto en películas comerciales (The Butterfly Effect, 2004, de Eric Bress and J. Mackye Gruber; A Sound of Thunder, 2005, de Peter Hyams; por mencionar solo un par), y es precisamente lo que desarrolla Gribbin en este libro.
  
  Algo que siempre agradezco de la divulgación científica es su esfuerzo por explicarnos al resto de la humanidad ideas complejas con la teoría de caos, en ideas más simples, e incluso, darle una extensión como en este caso, para explicarnos cómo ello se relaciona con el origen de la vida como la conocemos.
• 
  ياسر

  
  “إنها البساطة التي تولِّد التعقد، مما يجعل الحياة ممكنة”
  -مراي جلمان
  
  الكتاب يتناول موضوعا شيقا جدا، وهو الفوضي وعلاقتها بالانتظام.. كلمتان متناقضتان ولكنهما مرتبطتان أكثر مما نعتقد..
  من حركات الأجرام الفضائية للتنبؤ بالزلازل وانقراض الكائنات الحية، للتكاثر والتطور الدارويني.. كلها أمثلة على الانتظام عندما يخرج من العشوائية..
  
  في سبعة فصول يحاول “جريبين” إظهار تلك العلاقة الوطيدة، فيبدأ بمحاولة وضع مفاهيم أساسية (الحالات الجاذبة، الزمن الدوري لبونكاريه، الموت الحراري للكون، وتأثير الفراشة)، وإظهار بسيط لتاريخ البحث في الموضوع، حتى ولو بطريقة غير مباشرة.. فيبدأ من جاليليو ونيوتن، وحتمية لابلاس في التنبؤ بالمستقبل.
  ثم بعد ذلك ينتقل -في أكثر من فصل- لتوضيح العلاقة بين النقيضين “الفوضي” و”الانتظام” من خلال عدة أمثلة مثل الزلازل، فيوضح محاولات ريختر للتنبؤ بتكرار الزلازل، ثم يتجه للانقراض وفرصه، وبعدها لنظريات النشوء والارتقاء بالانتخاب الطبيعي.
  
  
  تأثير الفراشة
  
  
  يلي ذلك في الأخير، محاولات البحث عن حيوات في الفضاء بطرق متعددة، وعلاقة ذلك باستقرار الحياة على الأرض، أو بكلمات أخرى، يحاول إسقاط الظروف الأرضية في بدايات الحياة علس سطحها على حالات بعض الكواكب.
  
  – الكتاب رحلة ممتعة جدا في مواضيع كثيرة يربطها حبل واحد وهو توضيح العلاقة بين الفوضى والانتظام، وكيف تحكم البساطة عالمنا.
  
  -تقييم 3.5/5
  
  “وإنما نحن خلقنا على هيئة هذا الكون”..
  
• 
  Yev

  It started well enough, clear language, fascinating topics. I really enjoyed the first two thirds of the book.
  
  Then, as I was reading the chapter about evolution, I started feeling uneasy. Natural selection is simple enough (as Gribbin quotes, how come no one thought of it earlier), but evolutionary argumentations often have a certain subtlety to them, that is easily missed. One can understand evolution, without really understanding it.
  
  It would have been hard for me to point to a specific flaw in his reasoning, had he not provided a glaring example. Gribbin writes about computer models of ecosystems with interconnections between species, then (p. 193) "But what happens if, and when, one of these species does go extinct, or suffers a loss of fitness caused by a mutation, affecting the landscape of its neighbors?" Now, that is a contradiction, a mutation cannot cause the loss of fitness to a species, only fitness gain. A mutation starts in an individual, it will spread in the following generations only if it improves the fitness (that's basically the definition of natural selection). If, on the other hand, it causes a loss of fitness, the mutation will disappear, leaving the species unchanged.
  
  Usually when I find such a flaw in a book, it casts a shadow on its entirety. This case is the exception, I just think he delved too far out of his expertise. The physics parts of the book are superb.
• 
  Pramod

  This book made me so curious about origin of life and universe.
• 
  Jade

  i read this because it’s the “textbook” for a physics seminar course i’m taking in uni. finding the course was a total coincidence, but i’m so glad that i enrolled because this book is an amazing read. i’ve never been so interested in physics, from the simple rules that underlie it to the wider applications of those rules that cover large and complex processes in our universe. so many topics are touched upon here—ecology, biochemistry, geometry, calculus, geology, etc., so much so that it’s not just a physics book but a book about life and what lies beyond. it’s also a very easy read, and explains some difficult concepts in simple language with the aid of helpful examples. really excited for this course!
• 
  Juju

  印象在高中學物理的時候覺得超困難的，但讀這本書卻可以感受到物理的有趣！
  看到科學家怎麼去觀察發現，覺得超厲害的！
  突然很想再拿出高中物理考題來算算看，知道由來後覺得超有趣的呀～哈哈
  應該就是《窮查理的普通常識》第十一講裡的師出有名傾向，知道緣由後突然就變得很感興趣很想練習題目了XD
  
  愈讀愈喜歡這本書，他把科學說得有深度又不會過深。
  讓我覺得有點挑戰、有點收穫。
  脫離學校好多年的自己能看得懂，覺得有成就感（哈！）
  
  不過也認真感受到自己不愛化學，只要看到諸如磷酸鹽、硝酸鹽...$&@*^%#，就想快速通過😂
  還有天文的部分我也會恍神，看來跟人的議題距離太遠的會比較沒興趣，喜歡的書好像都是跟人類直接有相關的。
  藉由這本書更認識自己的喜好，挺不錯！
  
  探討生命起源的可能那部分蠻有趣的，原來非穩態的環境是有生命的象徵。
  
  讀這本書獲得了一些感觸，有生命的世界有週期的震盪，從穩定突破邊際到達混沌再回到穩定，了解這些讓我對於許多的變化能更淡然視之。
  無常其實才是正常的生命跡象，週期性的變化。
  
  就像在《投資最重要的事》理說過的鐘擺效應吧。
  
  完整閱讀心得：
  https://jujuchu.com/deep-simplicity/
• 
  Abraham Dabengwa

  Still reading the book. My opinion of the book is imperfect but I worry that James Gleick's Chaos was a better presentation. Gribbin does dig up a lot of historical facts to piece together a story, however, most is partisan to the old world. It's a useful book on complexity or chaos science... This is a more accessible book compared with others out there. As bonus, it's not pretentious.
• 
  Sajith Kumar

  Noted science writer, John Gribbin, is on to a little known aspect of science related to chaos theory and self-organized complexity that is the basis of life and other complex systems. The book is organized as to be helpful for the initiate, and is a good attempt to bring this new concept into the public domain. Mathematics breaks down when the systems move from simple shapes or manipulations to complex objects and repetitive interactions begin on a large scale. Future states of such systems cannot be predicted in advance, as a slight change in the initial conditions would deviate the system through a wide margin from the original. These entities are said to be on the edge of chaos and is the basis of most physical systems existing on earth. The novel concept brought home in the book is the application of this deceptively simple construct to the as yet unfathomable issue of emergence of life on this planet. Gribbin has put forward a fairly consistent argument on this issue and is a good starting point for further study.
  
  Science broke free of the shackles of organized religion in the 17th century. Galileo’s infamous trial and incarceration is, ironically, the very last of such well-known instances. The human intellect was thus freed to explore the wide world, which it promptly did. Epochal events and discoveries were unfolded in that century, with Newton’s theory of gravitation, birth of calculus, gas laws and the first glimmers of electricity. When at last the overarching fetters of religion were finally removed, science progressed along the path of determinism, in order to deny any role for a supernatural force to dictate terms in scientific theories. Laplace crowned the deterministic faction by boldly claiming that if you know the laws of interaction between all particles and their exact initial states, you will be able to predict all the future states of the system quite faithfully. He is even claimed to have once remarked to Napoleon that he didn’t want God to turn up anywhere in his account of why the world is how it is! But as science extended its knowledge from the basics to the subtle, its limitations were soon exposed in painful detail. Even gravity was a problem when the number of interacting bodies increased. Newton’s equation is solvable even for a high school student, if we simplify the situation so as to involve only two bodies. When three objects are involved, the equations can’t be solved analytically, only approximations are possible. Consider the case of the solar system then, and we may feel butterflies in our stomach when we learn that nobody has been able to prove that the solar system is stable in the long run! However, we may take some consolation that the ‘long’ in long run is indeed long, say, a few billion years. This system is said to be chaotic, not in the literary sense, but as a very complex system that runs on simple principles, but made impossibly difficult to predict by positive feedback. Chaos means that the response for even a small change in the input might be immense, as evident in references to the ‘Butterfly Effect’, the fluttering of a butterfly’s wings in the Amazonian rain forest setting up a train of events that result in a tornado in Texas. But obviously, this example is highly exaggerated.
  
  Readers are in for a surprise to know that self-organized complex systems cover everything from climate systems, astronomical objects, the biological kingdoms and even the collapse of a sand pile. Each illustration given in the book is followed by graphical representations and very informative text. The fundamental characteristic of all these systems is that they are not linear. You won’t get proportional change in output corresponding to a change in input. Here, a power law is involved, as the output is proportional to some power of the input. Hope everyone remembers their school math! The power of a number means the number multiplied that many times with itself. The secret behind eliciting a large response from a small stimulus is this power relation. Add to that the interaction among individuals. You get a complex system teetering on the edge of chaos.
  
  Several charts and illustrative diagrams are squeezed into the text, but they lack clarity and visual appeal. Rather than instruments for better comprehension, these diagrams seem to serve the requirement of incorporating visual media in a volume of popular science. The diagrams are not anchored to the text. The readers have no clue at what point they should stop reading the text and look at the picture. So we reach a consensus to study the chart before the page is turned over. And, though it may seem uncharitable, it must be said that, in a future edition, if all the charts are omitted by mistake, a person reading the text won’t notice it.
  
  As a sequel to the above, it is to be noted that the book literally overflows with text that fails to carry conviction. However, to do justice to Gribbin, any book on chaos and self-organized complexity is marred by this same disadvantage. This may probably be due to the non-availability of second layer (not to be confused with second rate) writers who take inputs from first layer writers and simplify it for the lay audience. Chaos is still the preserve of pioneering writers.
  
  Gribbin walks out of the beaten path of chaos theory to endorse evolution. He asserts the truth of the theory of evolution in unequivocal terms. Propagandists of creation and intelligent design often accuse evolution to be only a theory and not fact. Gribbin concludes that Evolution is a theory in the same sense of saying that gravity is Newton’s theory. In another context, he specifies that a hypothesis is an untested postulate and when it is supported by experiment, it graduates to the status of a theory. Evolution is a tried and tested theory in that sense.
  
  The book also includes a defense for James Lovelock’s Gaia hypothesis with the rather bold conclusion that is a theory. But here, the association is doubtful. It appears as if the author’s personal familiarity with Lovelock and his ideas are dictating terms here. Gaia’s relevance to the subject under study is given only glancingly. Moreover, Gribbin is a renowned popularizer of science who is also a prolific author. Naturally, his works cover almost all areas of physics. Consequently he advises the readers through foot notes to refer to his various books, if they want to clarify a point under discussion. This self advertisement is amusing to behold.
  
• 
  Deniz Cem Önduygu

  This was my first Gribbin and the first few chapters made me regret not reading him before: a delightful historical summary of our theories for gravity and thermodynamics with patiently explained mathematics, accompanied by a careful discussion of determinism – a real page-turner.
  
  The latter part of the book however didn't live up to my expectations – especially the way he handles the issue of life, endorsing a metabolism-first approach without explaining how RNA-DNA integrated into it, and not leaving much role for evolutionary agents and processes in organism/metabolism design except for maintaining the balance dictated by physics and mathematics. Even if he only adopted this angle in accordance with the theme of the book, it felt myopic to me. (And he certainly doesn't hide his admiration for Kauffman, so I guess this may not be a temporary adoption.)
  
  Overall I loved Gribbin's prose, but I'll stick to his physics-only books in future.
• 
  Chandrashekar BC

  Deep Simplicity : ಪುಸ್ತಕಾನುಭವ :
  
  ಒಮ್ಮೆ ಸುಮ್ಮನೆ ನಿಂತು ನಮ್ಮ ಸುತ್ತಲೂ ಏನಿದೆಯೆಂದು, ಎನಾಗುತ್ತಿದೆಯೆಂದು ನಮಗೇ ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆ ಹಾಕಿಕೊಂಡು ನೋಡಿದಾಗ, ವಿಸ್ಮಯತೆ ನಿಧಾನವಾಗಿ ನಮ್ಮ ಚಿಂತನೆಯನ್ನಾವರಿಸುತ್ತದೆ? ಬೆಟ್ಟದ ಮೇಲೆ ನಿಂತಾಗ ಕಾಣುವ ಅರಣ್ಯ ಆಗಸ ನದಿ ಮೋಡಗಳ ನೋಟವಾಗಿರಬಹುದು, ಮಾರುಕಟ್ಟಯಲ್ಲಿ ಜನದಟ್ಟಣಣೆಯ ಮಧ್ಯದಲ್ಲಿ ನಿಂತು ನೋಡುವಾಗ ಸಿಗುವ ಲೋಕ ವ್ಯಾಪಾರದ ಚಿತ್ರಣವಿರಬಹುದು, ಪ್ರಾಣಿ ಪಕ್ಷಿ ಕೀಟಗಳ ಜೀವನ ರೀತಿಯಿರಬಹುದು, ಅಥವಾ ರಾತ್ರಿಯ ಹೊತ್ತು ಮನುಷ್ಯ ಕಟ್ಟಿರುವ ಸಮಾಜದಿಂದ ದೂರ, ಕತ್ತೆತ್ತಿ ಆಗಸದೆಡೆಗೆ ನೋಡಿದಾಗ ಕಾಣುವ ನಕ್ಷತ್ರ ಗ್ರಹ ಚಂದ್ರ ಸಮೂಹವಿರಬಹುದು, ಎಲ್ಲವೂ ತಮ್ಮ ಇರುವಿಕೆಯಲ್ಲೇ ಜಟಿಲತೆಯನ್ನು ಪ್ರದರ್ಶಿಸುತ್ತಿವೆ. ಸ್ವತಂತ್ರವಾಗಿದ್ದರೂ ಪರಸ್ಪರ ಸಂಭಂದವಿರುವಂತೆ, ವಿರುದ್ದವಾಗಿದ್ದರೂ ಒಂದಕ್ಕೊಂದು ಆಧಾರವಾಗಿ, ಎಲ್ಲವೂ ಒಟ್ಟಿಗೆ ಯಾವುದೋ ಗುರಿಯತ್ತ ಚಲಿಸುವಂತೆ ಕಾಣುವುದಲ್ಲವೆ? ಆದಿಯಿಂದ ಇಲ್ಲಿಯವರೆಗೂ, ಮುಂದೆ ಅನಂತದೆಡೆಗೂ ವಿಕಾಸವಾಗುತ್ತಲೇ ಬಂದಿವೆಯಾದರೂ, ಕಾಲವೊಂದೇ ಈ ಅನಂತ ಚಲನೆಗೆ ಸಾಕ್ಷಿಯಾಗಿದೆ!
  ಹೌದು ನಮ್ಮೀ ಅರಿವಿನ ವಿಸ್ತಾರ ವಿಶಾಲವಾಗುತ್ತಿರುವುದೇ ನಾವು(ಬುದ್ಧಿ) ಕೇಳುತ್ತಿರುವ ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆಗಳಿಂದ. ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆಗಳಿಗೆ ಉತ್ತರಗಳು ಸರಳವಾಗಿರಬಹುದು ಅಥವಾ ಸಂಕೀರ್ಣವಾಗಿರಬಹುದು. ಸೂರ್ಯ ಏಕೆ ಪಶ್ಚಿಮದಲ್ಲೇ ಮುಳುಗುತ್ತಾನೆ ? ಮಳೆಬಿಲ್ಲಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಅಷ್ಟೊಂದು ಬಣ್ಣಗಳಿರಲು ಕಾರಣವೇನು? ಗ್ರಹಣ ಉದ್ಭವಿಸಲು ಕಾರ್‍ಅಣವೇನು? ನೀರು ಏಕೆ ಹರಿಯುತ್ತದೆ ? ಸೇಬು ಕೆಳಗೆ ಏಕೆ ಬೀಳುತ್ತದೆ? ಆಹಾ ಎಂಥ ಸುಲಭವಾದ ಮುಗ್ಧ ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆಗಳು. ಈ ರೀತಿಯ ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆಗಳಿಗೆ ನಮ್ಮ ಪೂರ್ವದ ವಿಜ್ಞಾನಿಗಳು ಅನೇಕ ಉತ್ತರಗಳನ್ನು ಕಂಡುಕೊಂಡಿದ್ದಾರೆ. ಇಂತಹ ಪೂರ್ವದ ವಿಜ್ಞಾನಿಗಳ ಗೌರವಾರ್ಥ ಐಸಾಕ್ ನ್ಯೂಟನ್ ನುಡಿದಿದ್ದು ಹೀಗೆ - "ನಾನೇದರೂ ದೂರವನ್ನು ದರ್ಶಿಸಿದ್ದರೆ, ಅದು ದಿಗ್ಗಜರ ಹೆಗಲ ಮೇಲೆ ನಿಂತು". ಅಂದರೆ ಆ ವಿಜ್ಞಾನಿಗಳು(ದಿಗ್ಗಜರು) ತಮ್ಮ ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆಗಳಿಗೆ ಕಂಡುಕೊಂಡ ಉತ್ತರಗಳೇ ಮುಂದಿನ ವಿಜ್ಞಾನಿಗಳ ಅನ್ವೇಷಣೆಗಳಿಗೆ ಅಡಿಪಾಯವಾಗಿದೆ. ಇಪ್ಪತ್ತನೇ ಶತಮಾನದ ಪ್ರಾರಂಭದ ಹೊತ್ತಿಗೆ ಭಾಗಶಃ ಎಲ್ಲ ಸರಳ ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆಗಳಿಗೆ, ಪ್ರಕೃತಿಯ ವಿಚಿತ್ರಗಳಿಗೆ ಉತ್ತರಗಳು ದೊರೆತಿದ್ದವು. ಅವುಗಳಿಗೆ ವಿಜ್ಞಾನ ಸೂತ್ರಗಳ ಮೂಲಕ ಅರ್ಥ ವಿವರಣೆಗಳೂ ಸ್ಪಷ್ಟವಾಗಿದ್ದವು. ಹೀಗೆ ಸೂತ್ರವೊಂದು ಇನ್ನೊಂದು ಸೂತ್ರಕ್ಕೆ ಆಸರೆಯಾಗಿ ಬೆಸೆದುಕೊಂಡು ಮತ್ತೊಂದು ಸೂತ್ರವಾಗಿ ಬೆಳೆದು, ವಿಶ್ವದ ಅನೇಕ ಅಜ್ಞಾತ ವಿಷಯವನ್ನು ಅರ್ಥದ ಬೆಳಕಿಗೆ ತರುವಲ್ಲಿ ಯಶಸ್ವಿಯಾದವು. ಅಲ್ಲಿಂದ ಇಲ್ಲಿಯವರೆಗೂ ಎಂದೂ ನಿಲ್ಲದ ಈ ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆಗಳು ಅನ್ವೇಷಣೆಗಳು ನಮ್ಮ ಸುತ್ತಲಿನ ಇನ್ನೂ ಸಂಕೀರ್ಣವಾದ ವಿಷಯಗಳನ್ನು ವಿಜ್ಞಾನ ಸೂತ್ರಗಳ ಮೂಲಕ ಅರ್ಥೈಸಲು ಪ್ರಯತ್ನಿಸುತ್ತಲೇ ಇವೆ.
  ವಿಜ್ಞಾನದ ಉತ್ತರಗಳು ಸಂಕೀರ್ಣವಾಗುತ್ತಾ ಹೋದಂತೆ ಅದು ಜನಸಾಮಾನ್ಯರನ್ನು ಮುಟ್ಟುವುದೂ ಕಷ್ಟವಾಗತೊಡಗಿದವು. ಆಗಾಗ್ಗೆ ವಿಜ್ಞಾನಿಗಳು ವಿಜ್ಞಾನದ ಅನೆಕ ಸಿದ್ದಾಂತ ಅವಿಷ್ಕಾರಗಳನ್ನು ಸಾಮನ್ಯ ಜನರಿಗೆ ಸುಲಭಗ್ರಾಹ್ಯವಾಗುವಂತೆ ಉಪದೇಶಿಸಿದರೂ, ಅವುಗಳ ಅನುಸಂಧಾನ ಸಮಾಜದಗೊಳಗೆ ಅಷ್ಟೊಂದು ಆಳವಾಗಿಲ್ಲ. ಅಲ್ಲಿನ ವಿಚಾರಗಳು ಸಾಮಾನ್ಯರ ವಿಚಾರಪರತೆಯ ನಿಲುಕಿಗೆ ದೂರವಾಗಿಯೇ ಉಳಿದಿದೆ. ಇಂತಹ ಜಟಿಲ ಸಂಕೀರ್ಣ ಜ್ಞಾನವನ್ನು ಎಲ್ಲರೂ ಆದಷ್ಟೂ ಸುಲಭಸಾಧ್ಯವಾಗುವಂತೆ ತಿಳಿಹೇಳುವ ಪ್ರಯತ್ನಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಜಾನ್ ಗ್ರಿಬ್ಬಿನ್ ಬರೆದಂತಹ "ಡೀಪ್ ಸಿಂಪ್ಲಿಸಿಟಿ" ಎಂಬ ಪ್ರಸ್ತುತ ಪುಸ್ತಕ ಕೂಡ ಒಂದು. ಗ್ರಿಬ್ಬಿನ್ ತಮ್ಮ ಈ ಪುಸ್ತಕದಲ್ಲಿ , ಹೊರನೋಟಕ್ಕೆ ಅಂಕೆಯಿಲ್ಲದಂತೆ ಕಾಣುವ ಈ ವಿಶ್ವವು, ಹೇಗೆ "ಕಾರಣ ಮತ್ತು ಪರಿಣಾಮ" ವನ್ನು ಪ್ರತಿನಿಧಿಸುವ ಕೆಲವು ಸಾಮಾನ್ಯ ಸೂತ್ರಗಳ ಮೇಲೆ ನಿಂತಿದೆ ಎಂಬುದನ್ನು ಅನಾವರಣಹೊಳಿಸುತ್ತಾರೆ. ವಿಶ್ವವ್ಯಾಪಾರವನ್ನು "ಕಾರಣ ಮತ್ತು ಪರಿಣಾಮ"ದ ಆಯಾಮಾದ ಮೂಲಕ ಹೇಗೆ ಅರ್ಥೈಸಬಹುದು ಮತ್ತು ಗಣಿತ,ಭೌತ,ರಸಾಯನ ಶಾಸ್ತ್ರಗಳ ಸೂತ್ರಗಳ ಮೂಲಕ ಹೇಗೆ ವಿಜ್ಞಾನಿಗಳು ಈ ಅರ್ಥಗಳಿಗೆ ಆಧಾರವನ್ನು ಕಲ್ಪಿಸಿಕೊಟ್ಟಿದ್ದಾರೆ ಎಂದು ಸರಳ ಉದಾಹರಣೆಗಳೊಂದಿಗೆ ತಿಳಿಹೆಳಿದ್ದಾರೆ. ಇಲ್ಲಿನ ವಿಚಾರಗಳು ಹೇಗೆ ದಾರಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಕೆಟ್ಟು ಹೋದ ಒಂದೇ ಒಂದು ಗಾಡಿ ಟ್ರಾಫಿಕ್ ಜಾಮ್‍ಗೆ ಕಾರ್‍ಅಣವಾಗುತ್ತದೆ?, ವಾತವರಣದಲ್ಲಿ ಆದ ಒಂದು ಚಿಕ್ಕ ಬದಲಾವಣೆ ಹೇಗೆ ಚಂಡಮಾರುತವನ್ನೇ ಸೃಷ್ಟಿಸುತ್ತದೆ?, ಕೆಲವು ಸಮುದ್ರ ತಟಗಳು ಅಂಕುಡೊಂಕಾಗಿಯೂ ಇನ್ನು ಕೆಲವು ನೇರವಾಗಿಯು ಇರಲು ಕಾರಣವೇನು?, ಯುಗಗಳ ಹಿಂದೆ ಕೇವಲ ಅಚೇತನ ವಸ್ತುಗಳಿಂದ ಮಾತ್ರ ತುಂಬಿದ್ದ ಈ ಬ್ರಹ್ಮಾಂಡದಲ್ಲಿ, ಹೇಗೆ ಒಂದಕ್ಕೊಂದು ಬೆಸೆದುಕೊಂಡು ಜೀವಿಗಳನ್ನು ಸೃಷ್ಟಿಸಿತು? ಎಂಬ ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆಗಳಿಗೆ ಮಾನವ ನಿರ್ಮಿತ ವಿಜ್ಞಾನದ ದರ್ಶಕದಿಂದ ಅವಲೋಕಿಸುತ್ತದೆ. ಅರ್ಥವಾಗದ ಪ್ರಪಂಚದ ಗಹನ ವಿಚಾರಗಳನ್ನು ಮಾನವ ಬುದ್ಧಿಗೆ ಅರ್ಥವಾಗುವಂತೆ ನಿರೂಪಿಸುತ್ತವೆ. ಚಿಟ್ಟೆಯ ರೆಕ್ಕೆಯ ಮೇಲಿನ ಅ���್ಭುತ ವರ್ಣವಿನ್ಯಾಸ, ಕಾಮನ ಬಿಲ್ಲಿನ ಬಣ್ಣದ ಕಮಾನು, ಸಮುದ್ರದ ಅಲೆಗಳನ್ನು ನಿಯಂತ್ರಿಸುವ ಚಂದ್ರನ ದೂರ, ತನ್ನಷ್ಟಕ್ಕೇ ತಿರುಗುತ್ತಾ ಸೂರ್ಯನ ಸುತ್ತಲೂ ಭ್ರಮಿಸುವ ಭೂಮಿಯ ಚಲನೆ, ಇಡೀ ಬ್ರಹ್ಮಾಂಡದ ಹುಟ್ಟು, ಇನ್ನೂ ಅನೇಕ ಗಹನ ಸಮಷ್ಠಿ ಸರ್ವಗಳಿಗೂ ಸೂಕ್ಷ್ಮ ಸಾಮಾನ್ಯ ಘಟನೆಗಳೇ ಅಧಾರಶಿಲೆಯಾಗಿ ನಿಂತಿವೆ, ಎಂಬುದನ್ನು ಅನೆಕ ವಿಜ್ಞಾನಿಗಳ ಸಿದ್ಧಾಂತಗಳ ಸಹಾಯದಿಂದ ವಿವರಿಸಿದ್ದಾರೆ. ವಿಶ್ವರಹಸ್ಯಗಳ ಸಂಕೀರ್ಣತೆಗಳನ್ನು ವಿಚಾರಣೆಯ ಓರೆಗಲ್ಲಿಗೆ ಹಿಡಿದು, ವಿಚಾರಶೀಲವಾಗಿ ಚಿಂತಿಸಿ ದುಡಿದು, ಅವೆಲ್ಲವೂ ಮುಂದಿನ ಜನಾಂಗಕ್ಕೆ ಗ್ರಾಹ್ಯವಾಗುವಂತೆ "ಅವ್ಯವಸ್ಥೆಯ ಸಿದ್ಧಾಂತ"ದಂತಹ(Chaos Theory) ಅನೇಕ ಆವಿಷ್ಕಾರಗಳನ್ನು ಜಗತ್ತಿಗೆ ನೀಡಿದ ವಿಜ್ಞಾನಿ ಸಮಸ್ತರಿಗೆ ನಾವೆಲ್ಲರೂ ಋಣಿಯಾಗಿರಲೇಬೇಕು ಎಂದು ನೆನಪಿಸಿಕೊಳ್ಳುತ್ತಾರೆ ಕೂಡ.
  - ಚಂದ್ರಹಾಸ
• 
  Brett M

  I gave this 4 stars because the author has to communicate such difficult concepts into layterms, not an easy task, and I learned a lot. However, parts of this are tough reading. Specifically, the 2nd quarter of the book overwhelms with mathematical concepts. I contemplated putting the book down, but thankfully plowed through and was glad I did. Lots to take in here, and eye opening.
  
  It was a combination of Kepler’s discovery of elliptical orbits and Galileo’s insights into both acceleration and the scientific method that paved the way for the greatest discovery of the seventeenth century, and one of the greatest of all time: Isaac Newton’s universal law of gravitation.
  
  When calculus became widely understood, it seemed that Newton and Leibniz had tamed time, making it possible to describe the behavior of moving things with the precision that the Ancient Greeks had been able to apply to their description of the relationship between static things.
  
  Under some circumstances, states that start out from very nearly the same state can very rapidly evolve in entirely different ways. - the foundation of chaos
  
  We can predict the weather accurately, provided it doesn’t do anything unexpected
  
  All of the inner planets of the Solar System (and our moon) show on their battered faces the scars of many such impacts (asteroid collisions) and it is widely believed that one such impact on Earth, about sixty-five million years ago, brought an end to the era of the dinosaurs and opened the way for the rise of mammals, including ourselves. This implies that we owe our existence directly to the effects of chaos at work in the asteroid belt, and carries the chilling corollary that the end of civilization may come about in the same way.
  
  Whether or not we have free will, the Universe behaves as if we have free will, which is really all that matters.
  
  Chaos is I nevitable - the Universe cannot, in principle, be predicted in all its detail: but, equally, time cannot, in principle, be reversed.
  
  The great triumphs of science since the time of Galileo end Newton have largely been achieved by breaking complex systems down into their simple components and studying the way the simple components behave (if necessary, as a first approximation, taking the extra step of pretending the components are even simpler than they really are).
  
  
  5 doves to every 7 hawks. .41666...
  
  Studies get neither better at surviving (in spite of evolution) nor worse at time passes; they die off at random.
  
  Microscopic Life forms in the oceans play a key role in controlling the climate of the earth.
  
  We are at home in the Universe. But it isn’t that the Universe has been designed for our benefit. Rather, we are made in the image of the Universe itself.
  
  (“The edge of chaos”)
• 
  Alexandros K

  An incredible book. The author discerns the complexities surrounding our universe and the world and explains how simple and fundamental rules underlie them all. The technical language has been dampened down to fit the average reader making it easier for a layman to understand
• 
  Blas Moros

  Key Takeaways
  Interesting read and I’ll remember that interesting things happen at the edge of chaos as chaos leads to complexity which leads to life
  
  Summary
  Gribbin explores our biological history to show how complexity can arise out of simplicity. Chaos leads to complexity which leads to life. The interesting things happen at the edge of complexity; in chaotic systems, minute differences in the initial conditions lead to huge differences in outcome
  
  What I got out of it
  Common theme – explains complex/complicated objects by breaking down to its simplest parts and begin by explaining these
  Read more at
  https://blas.com/deep-simplicity/
• 
  Scribe

  Bought many years ago and day on the shelf as I don't read many hardbacks. Finally got round to this though and glad I did. 4 stars as some parts are fairly dry and, even in their simple form, are helped out by a bit of a background in maths and other theory.
  
  But there are some points in here which absolutely blew me away, and indeed changed my life. The emergence of order, of systems (planetary, life, intelligence etc) and its *inevitability* turned my world on its head.
  
  So a must read if you're at all interested in systems and complexity, and a reminder I need to read more on this area.
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  Emmanuel

  It was an amazing book, i hadnt had my first encounter with chaos theory, I got to read it because of Mr. Charlie Munger recommendation, some of the insights i got from it have been very very deep, changing my understanding and also giving me a perspective to think about meta analysis/models, explained also the relationship of time and entropy (the arrow of time), would recommend, it would really deepen your understanding, next time you see something really complex, this book will give you kind of a net to understand it.
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  Manoj Joshi

  There are some rare texts that invite your thinking and even challenge it one step ahead of what you contemplate . Assorting complex dimensions round one self directed by the existence of physics in ones life the author has done great justice in thought provoking chapters well gardened for novice and advanced readers . As of now it has entered in my shelf of all time favourite and will analyse its content once I read few more books . Must for thinkers
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  Cengiz Aytun

  Evrende karşımıza her ne kadar karmaşık fenomenler çıksa da o karmaşıklığın temelinde derin bir basitlik bulunur. Bu düşünce kitapta ana tema olarak işlenmiş.
  Kitap aslında basitlikten bahsetse de bu basitlik temel matematik fizik kimya ve biyoloji bilgisi olmayanlara kendini göstermeyebilir. Bu alanda ön bilgisi olmayanlar için okuması zor bir kitap olabilir.
  Karmaşıklık, kaos, entropi, gaia hipotezi ve yaşamın evrimi üzerine yazılmış güzel bir kitap.
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  Leandro Melendez

  Interesante aunque un poco enredada explicación de teoría del caos, y de como esta lleva impacto en otras áreas de la naturaleza así como interesante retrocesos en dicho caos, una disminución de entropía.
  
  Un poco elevado pero devela detalles muy peculiares que nunca había considerado.
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  Richard Ash

  Overall good book:
  - Some parts are too long
  - author jumps around a lot (though I guess that's expected given the topic)
  - main point of the book is fascinating, I'm curious to see where this research goes in the future, especially regarding the origin of life
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  سعيد عبدالغنى

  لهضم بعض ما جاء فى الكتاب يلزمك خلفية من أغلب العلوم كالكيمياء والأحياء والرياضايات والانثروبيولوجيا وبالطبع الفيزياء.
• 
  Turgut

  Some knowledge of math is required, like dynamic systems etc. but overall very clear and accessible introduction and recap of the complex systems and chaos theory.
• 
  Hossein Nrz

  Interesting topic though not enthralling narration. The coherency is poor and hard to follow the initial concepts to the end. In brief, couple scientific discoveries without sufficient connections.
• 
  Michelle

  The book contains the simple idea that chaos and complexity emerge from simplicity - simple rules, non-linearity, sensitivity to initial conditions and feedbacks. All together, they make the world works.
  
  What I’m personally most fascinated by, and will read more about, is the Gaia hypothesis described in this book. It was raised by Lovelock who questioned our fundamental understanding of a ‘life form’. Instead of conceptualising life with specific attributes, ‘life as we know it’, we should look for more general kinds. Specifically, a living system that reduces entropy. In other words, bring local orders to other systems and make entropy ‘run backwards’ as long as they have an external source of energy to feed on.
  
  Let’s say we are looking for life forms on Mars. One of the ways to measure entropy reduction would be to measure the chemical composition of the atmosphere. As living systems dumping waste products into the atmosphere, this will result in reactive gases like methane and oxygen which lower the entropy of the atmosphere. So if we see those reactive gases, we can say there are life forms reducing entropy here. Another way of measuring entropy would be analysing the sounds in the atmosphere because sounds made by living things contain information(1/f noise) which can be separated from the white background noise. Again, if we hear those sounds, then we can infer life forms.
  
  Long story short, the Gaia hypothesis is simply an idea that earth is a self-regulating system that determines the physical nature of its surface and keeps everything in control to sustain lives.
  
  Overall, I gave 4 stars because although the book contains many eye-opening concepts, it would be more insightful for a reader who already knew the fundamentals of quantum mechanics or chaos theory. As I’m quite nerdy about this area, the amount of cross-disciplinary applications he introduced kept me hooked throughout the book. Since the book is marketed for the public, however, I can see why this might not be everyone’s cup of tea.