Under The Microscope

THE NEW SCIENTIST GUIDE TO CHAOS, ed. Nina Hall; Penguin, 1991; 224 pages paperback; $29.95
CHANCE AND CHAOS, by David Ruelle; Penguin, 1993; 196 pages paperback; $29.95

Throughout most of the 20th Century quantum mechanics and relativity have dominated popularisations of physics. Classical physics has been tacitly assumed to be a dry and sterile pursuit with few challenges left for the professional, and of little interest to the layperson, but chaos theory, or non-linear dynamics, has struck back on its behalf.

It adds no new ingredients to the mechanistic, clockwork universe of Newton but shows that this familiar world is far more complex than previously imagined. Simple systems such as a pendulum, once a symbol of the predictive power of physics, are now recognised as behaving in a diverse and unpredictable way. The mathematical tools used to describe chaos find applications from biology to economics. The two books reviewed here give an excellent account of chaos theory and its ramifications. The New Scientist Guide to Chaos is a collection of articles from New Scientist, each by a different author, that discuss chaos theory. Unlike many anthologies, this one has been skilfully welded into a cohesive book. It starts by explaining the fundamental concepts of chaos theory and proceeds to examine related fields such as fractal geometry, and applications in engineering, biology and economics.

David Ruelle, the author of Chance and Chaos, is one of the developers of chaos theory, and his book is more demanding than the New Scientist collection, but his insight and a deft, humorous style reward the effort required. Unusually for a popular book, Ruelle gives thorough references to the technical literature and includes several mathematical discussions in the endnotes, for those who enjoy such things. Not aimed at a technical audience, this book is an excellent starting point for a maths-literate reader wishing to delve into the details of chaos theory.

Dr Richard Easther is an astrophysicist currently based in Japan.