Sync
How Order Emerges From Chaos In the Universe, Nature, and Daily Life
by Steven H. Strogatz · first published 2003
93% recommend7% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Accessible popular-science tour of spontaneous synchronization, from heart cells and flocks to Kuramoto oscillators. The sleep chapter and discovery history stand out; suits readers wanting something lighter.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
The tendency to synchronize may be the most mysterious and pervasive drive in all of nature. It has intrigued some of the most brilliant minds of the 20th century, including Albert Einstein, Richard Feynman, Norbert Wiener, Brian Josephson, and Arthur Winfree. At once elegant and riveting, Sync tells the story of the dawn of a new science. Steven Strogatz, a leading mathematician in the fields of chaos and complexity theory, explains how enormous systems can synchronize themselves, from the electrons in a superconductor to the pacemaker cells in our hearts. He shows that although these phen
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Here are a few: Sync: The Emerging Science of Spontaneous Order by Steven Strogatz Prime Obsession: Bernhard Riemann and the Greatest Unsolved Problem in Mathematics by John Derbyshire Predictably Irrational: The Hidden…
on “Ask HN: What are your favorite books?” ↗A disclaimer is that I haven't read "Why We Sleep". Nonetheless I recommend the book "Sync" by Steven Strogatz (2003) -- particularly chapter 3 on sleep -- which describes a neat coupling of when we sleep / when we wake up to our body temperature which oscillates with a period of roughly 24…
on “Ask HN: Most accurate scientific book on human sleep?” ↗https://www.amazon.com/Sync-Order-Emerges-Universe-Nature/dp... is also a good read on it. Perhaps not as technical as the above but has some interesting history on the discovery of these interesting mathematical truths.
on “The Puzzle of How Large-Scale Order Emerges in Complex Systems” ↗Very cool work - refreshing to see a of different approach. I learned about Kuramoto oscillators many years ago from a book called Sync, by Steven Strogatz, which I highly recommend.
on “Un-0: Generating Images with Coupled Oscillators” ↗Sync by Steven Strogatz
on “Ask HN: Looking for an Engaging Science Book” ↗…the cells in the heart muscles beat together without a central monitor. Swarms like flocks of birds, schools of fish etc. do not seem to have a hierarchical order. Steven Strogatz has a book called "Sync" related to spontaneous synchronisation. He also has given a Ted talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/steven_strogatz_on_sync/transcript...
on “Ex-Valve employee describes internal politics at 'self-organizing' companies” ↗Fortunately, there are a couple examples of serious researchers who are also excellent (though maybe not as well known) popularizers. Daniel Kahneman (Thinking Fast and Slow) and Steven Strogatz (Sync, etc.) come immediately to mind, because I have read them recently. I have some books by Benoit Mandlebrot in shipping, and I am quite excited about them. If anyone has other examples, I would love…
on “Should we stop believing Malcolm Gladwell?” ↗…remains, in my view, a great popular book on the subject, and manages to convey many of the ideas at a conceptual level without getting technical. And if you enjoy that, you might also like Strogatz's "Sync." For slightly more technical treatment, Strogatz's Nonlinear Dynamics and Chaos is now a standard text. It isn't terribly technical and is quite well written and (in my view) easy to read for anyone…
on “Strange Attractors” ↗Side note - Erik Winfree is the son of Art Winfree, a super fascinating character whose work is detailed beautifully in the book Sync by Steven Strogatz. Highly recommend for anyone interested in how spontaneous order emerges from chaos. Looks like the son is kicking ass too.
on “DNA Computer Shows Programmable Chemical Machines Are Possible” ↗Inspired by reading Steven Strogatz's Sync, I recently began working thru "Agent-Based Modeling" from Complexity Explorer (Santa Fe Institute) it is a very gentle introduction to the subject. There is a online MOOC class, or you can just watch…
on “Resources for Learning Computational Complexity Theory” ↗I liked Steven Strogatz's books Sync and Infinite Powers.
on “Ask HN: Are there books for mathematics like Feynman's lectures on physics?” ↗Steven Strogatz's Sync and Infinite Powers
on “Ask HN: Math books you recommend just for the way they are written?” ↗Steven Strogatz' Blink-level introduction to synchronization, Sync has a good chapter on Sleep titled Sleep and the Daily Struggle for Sync. I almost used it as a prescription for avoiding certain activities that may prevent me from getting a full sleep…
on “Normal sleep tough for night workers” ↗If anyone is interested in this synchronization process or how it relates to synchronization in general, I highly recommend 'Sync' by Steven Strogatz. It's one of the best popular science/math books I've ever read, and Strogatz is a mathematician…
on “Fireflies” ↗…here's the BBC looking into Newton and Leibniz notebooks as they cook it up for the first time - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObPg3ki9GOI Also Steven Strogatz is an excellent writer. His other books Sync and Joy of X can be read by anyone.
on “The Beauty of Calculus [video]” ↗