(Ebook) When Things Grow Many: Complexity, Universality and Emergence in Nature by Lawrence S. Schulman ISBN 9780198861881, 0198861885, B09RGN5DNW

(Ebook) When Things Grow Many: Complexity, Universality and Emergence in Nature by Lawrence S. Schulman ISBN 9780198861881, 0198861885, B09RGN5DNW

This is a book about statistical mechanics, but not so much about statistical physics. The distinction is in the applications, not the methods. The central idea is that when dealing with objects that have a large number of constituents qualitatively new phenomena emerge. This is a message one can take from physics and apply to a myriad of topics.

Aimed at advanced undergraduates and graduate students, When Things Grow Many: Complexity, Universality and Emergence in Nature is an accessible and engaging textbook introducing the theory of statistical mechanics, as well as its fascinating real-world applications. The book's original approach, which covers interdisciplinary applications of statistical mechanics to a wide range of subjects, including chemistry, biology, linguistics, economics, sociology and more, is bound to appeal to a wide audience.

While the first part of the book introduces the various methods of statistical physics, including complexity, emergence, universality, self-organized criticality, power laws and other timely topics, the final sections focus on specific relevance of these methods to the social, biological and physical sciences. The mathematical content is woven throughout the book in the form of equations, as well as further background and explanations being provided in footnotes and appendices.