Description
Book SynopsisAn alternative view of evolving complexity. Bird argues that randomness means not disorder but infinite order and that complexity arises from the "playing out" of chaotic systems.
Trade ReviewThis thought-provoking work will be valuable reading for students and for professionals trained in ecology and evolution... it should be required reading for advanced undergraduates, for graduate student seminars, and for discussion courses on the nature of organic evolution. Recommended [for] general readers, upper-level undergraduates and above. Choice Bird reveals his philosophical, almost mystical, inclinations... Bird's book is a product of this creative imagination that grapples with the very process itself. -- Martin Lockley The Scientific and Medical Network Bird's explanation of how organisms tap the universe of archetypes is... radically ingenious. Times Literary Supplement Chaos and Life...literally challenges many of our accepted views of reality...it's extremely well-written, so that if readers are willing to make the effort, they can tread new paths of thought. -- Robin Robertson Cybernetics and Human Knowledge This is a formidable piece. -- Paul Johnson Richmond Times-Dispatch Well written and clear, makes a strong case. Northeastern Naturalist
Table of ContentsPreface Acknowledgments Prologue: The Dawn of Man? 1. Iteration and Sequence 2. The Crisis in Biology 3. The Origin of "Species" 4. Chaos and Dimensionality 5. Chaostability 6. The Geometry of Life 7. The Living Computer 8. Morphology and Evolution 9. Entropy, Information, and Randomness 10. The Effectiveness of Mathematics 11. Life and Conflict 12. The World as Iteration and Recursion Notes Index
