Ubiquity: the Science of History...Or Why the World Is Simpler Than We Think
- List Price: $24.00
- Binding: Hardcover
- Publisher: Crown Publishers
- Publish date: 01/01/2005
Description:
Is it possible that seemingly unrelated cataclysms, both natural and human, all happen for one reason? In this groundbreaking book of popular science, critically acclaimed journalist Mark Buchanan tells the story of the serendipitous discovery of a new law of nature -- the law of universality -- and how it reveals the stunningly simple cause of some of the world's upheavals. From humble beginnings studying the physics of sandpiles, scientists have learned that many things in our world -- the earth's crust, cars on a highway, and even the tightly woven networks of human society -- have a natural tendency to organize themselves into what's called the "critical state".
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Packed with stories about real-life catastrophes such as the huge earthquake that hit Kobe, Japan, in 1995 with no warning, the stock market crash of 1987, and the outbreak of World War I, Ubiquity is a fascinating glimpse into an emerging scientific understanding of the fundamental instability of our world.
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