Philosophy Study Group

We will be embarking on a new book: How Nature Works: The Science of Self-organized Criticality (1996) by Per Bak. Unfortunately, this is one of the pricier books that we have selected for our group. All forms of the book – hardcover, paperback, and eBook – list for $60. Fortunately, however, they can be found for less. As of the time of this writing, Amazon is offering a new hardcover for $33 and a new paperback for $38; Google Play is offering an eBook for $47 to own and $18 to rent for 90 days. There are also used books available and, of course, there is the library. For the 11th we’ll read the first three chapters.

This book lays out a new way of looking at nature. It’s an examination of how to approach complexity, from black holes to evolution, and what that means for what might happen in the future. While the laws of nature are simple, nature itself is enormously complex. While Newton’s equations can be expressed as just a few variables with basic arithmetic relations, calculating what’s going on in nature can require some of the most abstract, complicated mathematics. Please note that there will be a test at the end. Just kidding. But brush up on your calculus just in case.

Curt