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Understanding a new scientific frontier...
Complexity is an umbrella term for a large group of interdisciplinary sciences having to do with complex systems – systems with vast numbers of interacting parts having high degrees of structural and functional organization. Biological organisms and ecosystems are the best examples of complex systems but they can also be physical, chemical, ecological, and social systems.
Related terms include: systems theory, complexity theory, emergence, self-organization, self-adaptive systems, chaos theory, nonequilibrium systems, nonlinear systems, information theory, and cybernetic systems.
Complex systems can be studied in mathematics, computer science, thermodynamics, chemistry, biology, evolution, ecology, social theory, demographics, organizational management, and many other disciplines.
Complexity, complex systems, and the large body of research behind them represent, in the words of one of the founders, physical chemist Ilya Prigogine, a “new dialogue with nature” in which the assumptions of reductionistic and deterministic science (which includes contemporary theoretical physics) are superseded by a view in which uncertainty, instability, irreversibility, and nonequilibrium are the new norm. Complexity is the term for this exciting new scientific frontier.
The booklist here is a tiny fraction of thousands of volumes and research papers related to the study of complex systems in various disciplines. For excellent free online video tutorials on complexity see the YouTube channel for The Systems Academy: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCutC....
Complexity is an umbrella term for a large group of interdisciplinary sciences having to do with complex systems – systems with vast numbers of interacting parts having high degrees of structural and functional organization. Biological organisms and ecosystems are the best examples of complex systems but they can also be physical, chemical, ecological, and social systems.
Related terms include: systems theory, complexity theory, emergence, self-organization, self-adaptive systems, chaos theory, nonequilibrium systems, nonlinear systems, information theory, and cybernetic systems.
Complex systems can be studied in mathematics, computer science, thermodynamics, chemistry, biology, evolution, ecology, social theory, demographics, organizational management, and many other disciplines.
Complexity, complex systems, and the large body of research behind them represent, in the words of one of the founders, physical chemist Ilya Prigogine, a “new dialogue with nature” in which the assumptions of reductionistic and deterministic science (which includes contemporary theoretical physics) are superseded by a view in which uncertainty, instability, irreversibility, and nonequilibrium are the new norm. Complexity is the term for this exciting new scientific frontier.
The booklist here is a tiny fraction of thousands of volumes and research papers related to the study of complex systems in various disciplines. For excellent free online video tutorials on complexity see the YouTube channel for The Systems Academy: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCutC....
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| 97 |
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The Big Picture: On the Origins of Life, Meaning, and the Universe Itself
by
Sean Carroll (Goodreads Author)
4.18 avg rating — 10,037 ratings
score: 98,
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| 97 |
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Foundational Papers in Complexity Science: Volume 1
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4.67 avg rating — 3 ratings
score: 98,
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| 97 |
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The Complex World: An Introduction to the Foundations of Complexity Science
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3.73 avg rating — 41 ratings
score: 98,
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1 person voted
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| 104 |
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Complexity and Chaos
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3.73 avg rating — 160 ratings
score: 97,
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| 104 |
|
The Seneca Effect: Why Growth is Slow but Collapse is Rapid
by
Ugo Bardi (Goodreads Author)
4.17 avg rating — 60 ratings
score: 97,
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| 104 |
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LOCAL ACTIVITY PRINCIPLE: THE CAUSE OF COMPLEXITY AND SYMMETRY BREAKING
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3.50 avg rating — 2 ratings
score: 97,
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| 104 |
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The Self-Organizing Universe: Scientific and Human Implications
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4.24 avg rating — 74 ratings
score: 97,
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| 104 |
|
Investigations
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4.07 avg rating — 151 ratings
score: 97,
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| 104 |
|
Who Do We Choose To Be?: Facing Reality, Claiming Leadership, Restoring Sanity
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4.13 avg rating — 577 ratings
score: 97,
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| 104 |
|
Reality Blind: Integrating the Systems Science Underpinning Our Collective Futures Vol. 1
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4.54 avg rating — 13 ratings
score: 97,
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1 person voted
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| 104 |
|
Complexity and Institutions: Markets, Norms and Corporations (International Economic Association Series)
by
Masahiko Aoki (Editor)
it was ok 2.00 avg rating — 1 rating
score: 97,
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| 104 |
|
Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets
by
Nassim Nicholas Taleb (Goodreads Author)
4.08 avg rating — 70,258 ratings
score: 97,
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| 113 |
|
Critical Phenomena in Natural Sciences: Chaos, Fractals, Selforganization and Disorder: Concepts and Tools (Springer Series in Synergetics)
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4.21 avg rating — 19 ratings
score: 96,
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1 person voted
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| 113 |
|
Discovering Complexity: Decomposition and Localization As Strategies in Scientific Research
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3.94 avg rating — 17 ratings
score: 96,
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1 person voted
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| 113 |
|
The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of The Learning Organization
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3.93 avg rating — 35,861 ratings
score: 96,
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| 113 |
|
Four Ways of Thinking: A Journey into Human Complexity
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3.76 avg rating — 180 ratings
score: 96,
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| 117 |
|
Overshoot: The Ecological Basis of Revolutionary Change
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4.45 avg rating — 441 ratings
score: 95,
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| 117 |
|
The Model Thinker: What You Need to Know to Make Data Work for You
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3.92 avg rating — 933 ratings
score: 95,
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| 117 |
|
In Search of Mechanisms: Discoveries Across the Life Sciences
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4.18 avg rating — 22 ratings
score: 95,
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1 person voted
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| 117 |
|
Humanity in a Creative Universe
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3.75 avg rating — 52 ratings
score: 95,
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| 117 |
|
Schools That Learn (Updated and Revised): A Fifth Discipline Fieldbook for Educators, Parents, and Everyone Who Cares About Education
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4.11 avg rating — 387 ratings
score: 95,
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1 person voted
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| 122 |
|
The Empire of Chance: How Probability Changed Science and Everyday Life (Ideas in Context, Series Number 12)
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4.06 avg rating — 51 ratings
score: 94,
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1 person voted
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| 122 |
|
The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook: Strategies and Tools for Building a Learning Organization
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4.12 avg rating — 2,129 ratings
score: 94,
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| 122 |
|
The Atlas of Social Complexity
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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 1 rating
score: 94,
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| 125 |
|
Chaos: A Program Collection for the PC
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it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating
score: 93,
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| 125 |
|
The Systems Thinking Playbook: Exercises to Stretch and Build Learning and Systems Thinking Capabilities
by
Linda Booth Sweeney (Goodreads Author)
4.08 avg rating — 173 ratings
score: 93,
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| 125 |
|
Thinking About Biology: An Invitation To Current Theoretical Biology (Santa Fe Institute Studies in the Sciences of Complexity : Lecture Notes, Vol)
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score: 93,
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| 128 |
|
Fractals and Chaos: An illustrated course
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4.11 avg rating — 9 ratings
score: 92,
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| 128 |
|
Mathematics: The Loss of Certainty
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4.12 avg rating — 511 ratings
score: 92,
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| 128 |
|
Critical Systems Thinking and the Management of Complexity
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4.32 avg rating — 31 ratings
score: 92,
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| 128 |
|
Complexity Economics: Proceedings of the Santa Fe Institute's 2019 Fall Symposium
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3.97 avg rating — 62 ratings
score: 92,
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| 132 |
|
Gamma chaos: onzekerheid en orde in de menswetenschappen
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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 2 ratings
score: 91,
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| 132 |
|
The Difference: How the Power of Diversity Creates Better Groups, Firms, Schools, and Societies (The William G. Bowen Series)
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3.81 avg rating — 314 ratings
score: 91,
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| 132 |
|
Systems Thinking For Social Change: A Practical Guide to Solving Complex Problems, Avoiding Unintended Consequences, and Achieving Lasting Results
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3.78 avg rating — 808 ratings
score: 91,
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| 135 |
|
The Nonlinear Workbook: Chaos, Fractals, Cellular Automata, Genetic Algorithms, Gene Expression Programming, Support Vector Machine, Wavelets, Hidden Markov Models, Fuzzy Logic with C++, Java and SymbolicC++ Programs
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3.64 avg rating — 14 ratings
score: 90,
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| 135 |
|
The Fractal Geometry of Nature
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4.23 avg rating — 1,279 ratings
score: 90,
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| 135 |
|
The Origin of Wealth: Evolution, Complexity, and the Radical Remaking of Economics
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4.28 avg rating — 1,736 ratings
score: 90,
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| 135 |
|
On Complexity
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4.17 avg rating — 89 ratings
score: 90,
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| 135 |
|
Life Itself: A Comprehensive Inquiry Into the Nature, Origin, and Fabrication of Life
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4.16 avg rating — 83 ratings
score: 90,
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| 140 |
|
Micromotives and Macrobehavior
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score: 89,
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| 140 |
|
The Fractalist: Memoir of a Scientific Maverick
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3.76 avg rating — 488 ratings
score: 89,
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| 140 |
|
Introdução ao pensamento complexo
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3.97 avg rating — 452 ratings
score: 89,
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| 140 |
|
The Romance of Reality: How the Universe Organizes Itself to Create Life, Consciousness, and Cosmic Complexity
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4.27 avg rating — 314 ratings
score: 89,
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| 144 |
|
Fractals: A Very Short Introduction
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3.70 avg rating — 222 ratings
score: 88,
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| 144 |
|
Models, Simulations, and the Reduction of Complexity
by
Ulrich / Hartmann Gähde (editor)
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 1 rating
score: 88,
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| 146 |
|
Governing the Commons
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4.21 avg rating — 1,210 ratings
score: 87,
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| 146 |
|
Introducing Fractals: A Graphic Guide
by
Nigel Lesmoir-Gordon (Goodreads Author)
3.94 avg rating — 434 ratings
score: 87,
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| 146 |
|
Understanding Complexity
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4.15 avg rating — 887 ratings
score: 87,
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| 149 |
|
2052: A Global Forecast for the Next Forty Years
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3.95 avg rating — 350 ratings
score: 85,
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| 149 |
|
Visual Complexity: Mapping Patterns of Information
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3.98 avg rating — 377 ratings
score: 85,
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| 151 |
|
Living With Complexity
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3.85 avg rating — 955 ratings
score: 84,
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| 152 |
|
An Evolutionary Theory of Economic Change
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4.10 avg rating — 72 ratings
score: 83,
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| 153 |
|
Complexity: A Very Short Introduction
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3.51 avg rating — 486 ratings
score: 82,
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| 154 |
|
43 Visions For Complexity (Exploring Complexity Book 3)
by
Stefan Thurner (Editor)
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 1 rating
score: 81,
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| 155 |
|
Why Information Grows: The Evolution of Order, from Atoms to Economies
by
Cesar A. Hidalgo (Goodreads Author)
3.98 avg rating — 1,484 ratings
score: 79,
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| 155 |
|
The Engine of Complexity: Evolution as Computation
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3.90 avg rating — 49 ratings
score: 79,
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| 157 |
|
Networks, Crowds, and Markets: Reasoning about a Highly Connected World
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4.16 avg rating — 305 ratings
score: 78,
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| 157 |
|
Cognition and Intractability: A Guide to Classical and Parameterized Complexity Analysis
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3.50 avg rating — 6 ratings
score: 78,
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| 159 |
|
Think Complexity: Complexity Science and Computational Modeling
by
Allen B. Downey (Goodreads Author)
3.91 avg rating — 245 ratings
score: 77,
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| 159 |
|
Computational Complexity
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3.90 avg rating — 142 ratings
score: 77,
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11-25-19 update: Awesome list - excellent additions. So much to choose from! Now we just have to work on the physicists and their types who explain away the 2nd Law and won't give up their reductionist time symmetry.