Review of 'Complexity - A Guided Tour'

“Complexity - A Guided Tour” is a worthwhile and interesting introduction. “Complexity” is a cross-disciplinary topic that permeates many fields, such as biology (immune system, brain, evolution), economics, computer science, and artificial intelligence.

The topics covered are accordingly varied, such as information theory, computation, genetics, evolution, genetic algorithms, cellular automata, and networks.

All topics are presented with their historical background and the scientists involved, such as Darwin, Mendel, Maxwell, Gödel, Turing, von Neumann, and Wolfram. Thus, this book also contains a history of “complexity.”

The book is aimed at the interested layperson. Mathematical knowledge is not necessary. However, for about 20% of the book, an interest in formal systems is required. To follow the argumentation, one must engage with the examples and “simulate” them in one’s head or on paper. I believe, however, that the book can also be read with benefit without these more formal parts.

The book is an introduction. To be able to analyze or program complex systems, more in-depth books are necessary.

I also have two points of criticism regarding the book:

In Chapter 13, the author describes the results of her dissertation. This is 80s-era AI and outdated. A lot has happened since then in search algorithms and stochastic grammar. Systems are no longer modeled in such an “ad hoc” way.

The author has a rather uncritical stance toward patents. She praises a professor as successful because he holds a patent for “techniques for the development of protein sequences for the discovery of new medicine” (p. 281). I would have expected a more critical attitude here, as patents can also have disadvantageous consequences (preventing competition, creation of monopolies).

Conclusion: All in all, a worthwhile, varied, and recommendable book.

Melanie Mitchell
Complexity - A Guided Tour
Oxford University Press
2009