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Amazing feats of collective intelligence, such as the colony of army ants that link themselves together to cross daunting precipices, are having an unconventional effect on the future of science. The "complexity" of these naturally occurring events cannot be explained by the traditional method of breaking science down into its most basic parts, in this case, the individual army ants. Instead, the study of complex systems, those made up of simple components with limited capacity for communication, provide a much broader illustration of the science of self-organization and adaptation.
In Complexity: A Guided Tour (Oxford University Press, 2009), Melanie Mitchell draws on her background as a computer scientist and her work with the Santa Fe Institute to study the complex systems that have evolved in nature and how they may contribute to the future of computer programming, specifically with regards to artificial intelligence. Mitchell also looks at the human brain's ability to create consciousness from a complex network of electrically charged neurons, axons, and dendrites, as well as the immune system's unique collection of cells, which work together in an effective and efficient way without any central control.
Mitchell's comprehensive overview of complex systems is at the forefront of the field, and while the science of self-organization, emergent behavior, and adaptation is still growing, Complexity is an up-to-date, non-technical book that points the way towards the field's future and potential solutions to some of the most important scientific questions of our time.
Mitchell is Professor of Computer Science at Portland State University and External Professor and Member of the Science Board at the Santa Fe Institute. Her research interests include artificial intelligence, machine learning and complex systems. Mitchell is the author or editor of five books and over 70 scholarly papers in the fields of artificial intelligence, cognitive science and complex systems.
The Phi Beta Kappa Book Awards are given each year in December for outstanding scholarly works published in the United States. These awards support the general mission of the Society to advocate for excellence in the liberal arts and sciences and to promote dialogue about important issues and ideas of our time in an environment of intellectual fellowship.
This year's award recipients are Susan M. Reverby, V.A. Kolve and Melanie Mitchell.
To read the announcement for the 2010 book award winners, click here.
REVIEWS
"Melanie Mitchell's book is most enjoyable, truly inspiring, skillfully written, and, above all, beautifully clear. The author's enthusiasm and passion for the field make the book fascinating to read. Her rigor, clarity, and healthy skepticism make the book sound and the field scientifically stronger. It is an excellent and rigorous account of the scientific field of complexity. She proves by example that it is possible to explain complex systems science with rigor, breadth, depth, and - above all - exquisite clarity." - Artificial Life
"Complexity: A Guided Tour is well written and engaging, laced with candid humor and occasional blunt remarks about some of the major characters in the field. It is a fine introduction to complexity science and could serve as a first-rate text for an advanced course for undergraduates and an excellent guide for courses at the graduate level. Experts and nonspecialists alike will have a hard time putting it down." - Physics Today
"A well-written, easy to understand, and entertaining piece of popular science." - Genetic Programming and Evolvable Machines
"Perhaps one of this generation's standard introductions to the exciting worlds of the sciences of complexity." - Emergence: Complexity and Organization
"Complexity stands out from other popular science books by mentioning recent discoveries and theories from genetics. Readers may enjoy Mitchell's personal perspective and her inclusion of recent research. Readers who have not been introduced to the ideas explored in Complexity will find the content fascinating." - Mathematical Association of America Reviews
"Mitchell's tour will be a helpful introduction to those in various disciplines who seek a gentle introduction to this emerging specialty." - Computing Reviews
"The author, a denizen of the community of complexity researchers, provides an engaging introduction to the many interdisciplinary issues surrounding attempts at understanding how fantastic holistic attributes can arise from teems of underwhelming components - how minds arise from simple neurons and cagey ant colonies from embarrassingly thick-headed individual ants. If Mitchell's book were required reading for undergraduate freshmen, I would anticipate a large surge in the number of students interested not only in complexity, but interested in science more generally. And not just more students, but students more exercised about what may lie ahead as they attempt to come to grips with nature." - Quarterly Review of Biology
"The best popular science books are those that give the reader the sense of looking over the shoulder of a leading researcher doing cutting-edge work at the frontier of scientific inquiry. Isaacson's recent biography of Einstein belongs in this category. So too does Melanie Mitchell's Complexity: A Guided Tour." - The Oregonian
"How can something be dependent and autonomous at the same time? And why do so many systems in nature show this hierarchical organization? No on has answered these questions, but in Complexity, computer scientist, Melanie Mitchell...offers a valuable snapshot of the growing field of complex-systems science from which the answers may eventually arise." - Nature
"The book succeeds in buckling down much of the field's ambiguity, along with its role in the scientific community. And refreshingly, while laying out the surprisingly diverse set of fundamental theories that compose the framework for studying complex systems, Mitchell never oversteps the achievements of what her field has actually produced." - Bookslut
"This volume is an engaging and lucid introduction to complex systems...Mitchell is able to succinctly describe core ideas and discoveries...Useful to advanced students and researchers in adjacent areas." - Choice
"An enthusiastic, sincere, and knowledgeable guide." - Science
