At home in the universe : the search for laws of self-organization and complexity /

This engaging and baffling tale about biological evolution by someone who has been dubbed a "visionary pioneer" is based on decades of computer simulations, boundless enthusiasm, lots of imagination, and zealotry for the impossibility of defining complexity theory. Kauffman attempts to illuminate an enormous number of phenomena using his view of self-organization ("order for free"), and claims that "complexity" somehow catapults one beyond a Darwinian understanding of evolution by natural selection. Kauffman asserts that from cultural systems to ecosystems, the evolutionary dynamic follows similar laws, and spontaneous order plays a great role in all of them. The subjects covered range from the origins of life to development of individuals, and comparisons of organisms and artifacts. The large number of figures vary from cartoon-like to mesmerizing networks and puzzling graphs. The last chapter treats the reader to a hodgepodge on "an emerging global civilization." It is not difficult to see how chaos theory is one of the fountains of the science of complexity. Recommended for the general reader who likes to take an eclectic stab at everything. F. S. Szalay; CUNY Hunter College