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A
straightforward, accessible explanation of the realities of human
biological diversity *Human
Diversity Richard Lewontin
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Computer
crime is a complex problem in perverse behaviour compounded by
the incredible complexity of the technology * Fighting
Computer Crime: A New Framework
for Protecting Information Donn B. Parker
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"...we've
been here for only about a million years, we, the first species
that has devised the means for its self-destruction." * Earth
Time David Suzuki
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Who says they don't write
space operas like they used to ?
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The
future just isn't what it used to be * Luminous
Greg Egan |
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Science
fiction is about imagining the present through the lens of a speculative
future *Foundation
(trilogy)
Isaac Asimov
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 *
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Rendezvous
with Rama
Arthur
C Clarke |
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non-fiction/mathematics/popular
science
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A
Genuine Labour of Love
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It's all about
simulation
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[this
review first appeared in http://www.anatomy.usyd.edu.au/danny/book-reviews/h/Computational_Beauty.html]
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The Computational Beauty
of Nature: Computer Explorations of Fractals, Chaos, Complex Systems,
and Adaptation Gary William Flake The MIT Press 1998
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In The
Computational Beauty of Nature Flake has produced a guide
to computational modeling which doesn't really fit either the
textbook or the popular science mould, but which combines some
of the best elements of both genres. It isn't a replacement for
more technical works, but it could be used as the skeleton for
an introductory undergraduate course; it will also be a great
starting place for the amateur, fascinated perhaps by Mandelbrot
sets and after something more substantial.
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As the subtitle suggests,
The Computational Beauty of Nature is built around the five
pillars of Computation, Fractals, Chaos, Complex Systems, and
Adaptation. An amazing amount of material is packed in, though
it surprisingly doesn't result in clutter. The section on computation
introduces Cantor diagonalisation, Turing machines, a cut-down
Lisp (Stutter), recursively enumerable functions, and Goedel's
theorem; that on fractals, self-similarity and fractal geometry,
L-systems and affine transformation fractals, and Mandelbrot and
Julia sets; that on chaos, simple non-linear dynamics, strange
attractors, prey-predator systems, and chaos control; that on
complex systems, cellular automata (including the Game of Life),
autonomous agents, game theory and the Prisoner's Dilemma, and
neural networks; that on adaptation, genetic algorithms, classifier
systems, and more neural networks (perceptrons and back-propagation).
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Flake also connects
his core pillars: on them rests rafters forming a pentagon (Figure
1.1). These are labeled recursion, incomputability, strange attractors,
phase transitions, cellular automata, growth models, self-organization,
emergence, hierarchical models, and coadaptation. Each of the
five areas has its own roof (a more philosophical postscript),
but Flake doesn't really get embroiled in overarching philosophical
issues until it comes to the lightweight central roof (the epilogue),
which is made up of largely ornamental analogies.
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While he hasn't really
got the space to fit in more than an outline of all these topics,
Flake still manages to treat them at a level that combines accessibility
with real substance - enough to be interesting to me, though I
found little that was actually new. He has a knack for succinct
but clear explanations that should be accessible to those with
no more than school mathematics. The mathematics is explained
as it is needed, but rather concisely, with just a page or two
for each of calculus, linear algebra and affine transformations,
complex numbers, vector calculus, matrix algebra, and so forth.
A really gifted novice might enjoy this, but for most it will
be best used as a refresher. Flake says that he wrote The
Computational Beauty of Nature for himself at a younger
age, and I would certainly have been ecstatic over a copy when
I was at school.
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The
Computational Beauty of Nature is not as austere as this might
suggest. It is fundamentally about simulation, and comes with
an array of programs (almost forty of them) which shed light on
its contents; instructions on using these are scattered throughout.
The Computational Beauty of Nature is perfectly usable without
these programs, but they make some things a lot clearer and are
also a lot of fun to play with. They are available, along with
source code, on the web.
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All told, in The
Computational Beauty of Nature Flake has created a truly splendid
edifice, a genuine "labour of love". And only a few proof-reading
slip-ups mar otherwise attractive construction by the MIT Press.
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Danny
Yee
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Other works on same/related
theme: -
Boissonnat, Algorithmic
Geometry, Cambridge University Press 0 521565 29 4 [9780521565295]
RRP $64.95
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