How Nature Works: The Science of Self-Organized Criticality (Copernicus)

Self-organized criticality, the spontaneous development of systems to a critical state, is the first general theory of complex systems with a firm mathematical basis. This theory describes how many seemingly desperate aspects of the world, from stock market crashes to mass extinctions, avalanches to solar flares, all share a set of simple, easily described properties. “…a’must read’…Bak writes with such ease and lucidity, and his ideas are so intriguing…essential reading for those interested in complex systems…it will reward a sufficiently skeptical reader.” -NATURE “…presents the theory (self-organized criticality) in a form easily absorbed by the non-mathematically inclined reader.” -BOSTON BOOK REVIEW “I picture Bak as a kind of scientific musketeer; flamboyant, touchy, full of swagger and ready to join every fray… His book is written with panache. The style is brisk, the content stimulating. I recommend it as a bracing experience.” -NEW SCIENTIST 1 Complexity and Criticality.- 2 The Discovery of Self-Organized Criticality.- 3 The Sandpile Paradigm.- 4 Real Sandpiles and Landscape Formation.- 5 Earthquakes, Starquakes, and Solar Flares.- 6 The “Game of Life”: Complexity Is Criticality.- 7 Is Life a Self-Organized Critical Phenomenon?.- 8 Mass Extinctions and Punctuated Equilibria in a Simple Model of Evolution.- 9 Theory of the Punctuated Equilibrium Model.- 10 The Brain.- 11 On Economics and Traffic Jams.