SIMPLEXITY

What is simple? What is complex? The author dives into these topics while moving through a diverse group of subjects. He skips from traffic control to Apartheid with ease. Complexity science is still in it's infantcy, but the author gives a good overview of this new field.[return][return]Much more interesting than you would expect, and well written.[return][return]Even though it is targeted at the public, a detailed bibliography and footnotes would have been nice.

Simplexity was one of those books that I read cover-to-cover with the least number of stops possible. The subject matter is intriguing; the prose, captivating. I found the book hard to put down, much to the detriment of my sleep schedule. (It kept me up all night until past 05:00 one day.)

The only real complaint I have is that I was left wanting more. Many good examples were provided in the book, but not enough to sate my curiosity. I could have read a book five times the length on the subject. But I did glean a few more related books for my to-read shelf from this text, so maybe those will help when I get to them.

As a purely pedantic comment, the frequency of editing errors climbed toward the end. Some mistakes were simple typos that were overlooked; but I winced at the use of "principle" instead of "principal", and at the misspelling "siezed" (one of the English language's notorious exceptions to the "I before E" rule).

But don't take this review the wrong way: It's very likely that you will find this book to be thoroughly engrossing, even if you're a pedant like me.