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| Category: Science |
(requires Adobe Reader)
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| About the Book | |
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Since the dawn of recorded history, the need to predict the future has always been a primitive desire of the human animal. Nevertheless, even with the power of information processing, some dynamical systems, such as the weather, stock and commodities prices, and the state of the human mind, have stubbornly resisted all efforts at reliable predictions. In this book, some of the various attempts that have been made to predict the future - both serious and fanciful - are first examined as a basis for a more modern approach. In the second part, the concept of a dynamical system is introduced and the issues that affect the possibility of making accurate predictions are then discussed. Illustrative examples are given from natural and artificial systems, including a discussion of the Dust Bowl era showed that complex systems could interact catastrophically.
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| Reviews | |
Your book is "a delicatessen for the mind and soul," as we Russians used to say. Congratulations, David! This is an interesting book about how people can use probability and science to make predictions. My favorite part was when the author talks about how astrology is used. It was very fun to read...There are other things in this book like pattern recognition and randomness. I liked that the book also talked about prediction through the ages. I am giving this book a 5/5.
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| About the Author | |
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The author has a Ph.D. in physics from Syracuse University, an M.S. in mathematics from Loyola Marymount University, and an M.S. in engineering mechanics from the University of Florida. He worked on aerospace projects for ten years and taught college courses for nine years, and does research in theoretical physics. |