Post: #1

Has anyone tried to read this tome? It weighs in at over 1000 pages and is filled with dense mathematical proofs to show that complexity arrives from simple initial conditions. It was released in 2002 to much acclaim, but since then....not so much. I'm trying to work my way through it for the fourth or fifth time in the past ten years. I know there are a few math and physic types on these boards and I would like to hear your take on it. I haven't had to deal with this much math since college and my brain is starting to melt.

Post: #2

I found an electronic copy of this volume, read some parts of it and put it aside. How far along did you get? Did you get the impression that he was repeating himself sometimes?

I find the fact that he was able to code Mathematica single-handedly more amazing that the results that are presented toward the beginning of this book. Even though some of the proofs have been made more accessible to a layman, some degree of mathematical maturity is required to get through them.

Actually, it is surprising that this book has received so little attention.

Post: #3

The biggest problem with the ideas in the book, that while theories are sound, no one AFAIK has figured out a good way to apply them.