The End of Certainty :
Time, Chaos, and the New Laws of Nature
by Isabelle Stengers, Ilya Prigogine
Price: $19.20
Category: Science
Hardcover - 240 pages (August 1997)
Free Press; ISBN: 0684837056 ;
Dimensions (in inches): 0.92 x 8.78 x 5.82
Amazon.com Sales Rank: 21,110
Editorial Reviews Amazon.com
In this intellectually challenging book, Nobel laureate Ilya Prigogine tackles some of the difficult questions that bedevil physicists trying to provide an explanation for the world we observe. How is it, for instance, that basic principles of quantum mechanics--which lack any differentiation between forward and backward directions in time--can explain a world with an "arrow of time" headed unambiguously forward? And how do we escape classical physics' assertion that the world is deterministic? In a sometimes mathematical and frequently mind-bending book, Prigogine explores deterministic chaos, nonequilibrium thermodynamics, and even cosmology and the origin of the universe in an attempt to reach an explanation that can reconcile physical
laws with subjective reality.
"Good book for the advanced reader, Prigogine mixes history, philosophy, classical , quantum and statistical mechanics to review the status of philosophy of science and the lack of methods to handle non integrable systems. Then he derives several briliant solutions and (re)interpretations. Some "examples" are biased towards Prigogine theories and can confuse the layman (e.g. the thermal diffusion, the discussion of wavefunction reduction outside a microcanical ensemble). We're still waiting for the 600+ pages book on the same subject and simplified version for those without a strong background on math/phys. Good reading".
Reviewer: Richard Axor December 26, 2000
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