ohmanbleh's review
3.0
great source of examples, and a great way to build intuition for more abstract stuff. i could do with more "proofs", but it's not like those are hard to find in other texts.
eska's review
4.0
3.5 ⭐ | Eine meiner Vorlesungen basierte auf dem Buch mit dem Unterschied, dass bei mir die eher mathematischeren Kapitel ausgelassen wurden. Es ist wirklich leicht verständlich und umgangssprachlich gehalten. Das Buch besteht beinahe ausschließlich aus Beispielen an denen die Herangehensweisen mit ähnlichen Problemen erklärt werden. Daraus kann man sich allgemeine Lösungswege herausarbeiten, aber das ist dem Leser vorbehalten.
Wer sich eher für das chaotische Verhalten von Systemen interessiert, der sollte dies als Einstieg in die Thematik betrachten. Und selbst dieser Einstieg ist eher schwach. Da ist das ChaosBook die weitaus bessere Anlaufstelle (und auch weitaus mathematischer).
Wer sich eher für das chaotische Verhalten von Systemen interessiert, der sollte dies als Einstieg in die Thematik betrachten. Und selbst dieser Einstieg ist eher schwach. Da ist das ChaosBook die weitaus bessere Anlaufstelle (und auch weitaus mathematischer).
xerxes314's review
4.0
Very clear and engaging text on nonlinear dynamics with lots of great examples from real-world systems. Rarely do you read a textbook and think to yourself "Wow, I can't wait to find time to work on some of these homework problems." The descriptions often make use of geometric intuition alongside more rigorous derivations, and when the derivations get too difficult, the author omits them in favor of references to more technical works.
One little gripe: the figures are sometimes kind of lousy or copied from much older works from as far back as the '80s and '90s. I could make better figures in a couple hours (and did while working the exercises), so the author could probably have found the time to do so (or had a grad student do it). Some of the problem may be the desire to make everything compatible with two-tone black-and-white for the paper editions. It's a shame, since the fractals are so beautiful when you render them nicely.
A second little gripe: The e-book displays equations using little graphic inserts, which are often completely the wrong size. The result is readable enough, but not very attractive.
One little gripe: the figures are sometimes kind of lousy or copied from much older works from as far back as the '80s and '90s. I could make better figures in a couple hours (and did while working the exercises), so the author could probably have found the time to do so (or had a grad student do it). Some of the problem may be the desire to make everything compatible with two-tone black-and-white for the paper editions. It's a shame, since the fractals are so beautiful when you render them nicely.
A second little gripe: The e-book displays equations using little graphic inserts, which are often completely the wrong size. The result is readable enough, but not very attractive.
arbieroo's review
4.0
I found this to be an excellent introduction to the subject, with clear explanations and extremely good organisation of the material. Examples build on each other in a logical fashion and make the pure mathematics concrete by using genuine scientific applications. The subject itself is fascinating and surprisingly mathematically tractable. The early chapters could be handled by anyone with A-level mathematics. Infrequent references to esoteric subjects like point-set topology are made for the sake of rigour but in fact can be totally ignored without loss of practical understanding of the techniques. Those needing more advanced material in any particular area will find adequate references.
Great stuff!
Great stuff!
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