Crashes, Crises, and Calamities: How We Can Use Science to Read the Early-Warning Signs

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Basic Books, Mar 29, 2011 - Science - 256 pages
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Why do certain civilizations, societies, and ecosystems collapse? How does the domino effect relate to the credit crunch? When can mathematics help explain marriage? And how on earth do toads predict earthquakes? The future is uncertain. But science can help foretell what lies ahead.

Drawing on ecology and biology, math and physics, Crashes, Crises, and Calamities offers four fundamental tools that scientists and engineers use to forecast the likelihood of sudden change: stability, catastrophe, complexity, and game theories. In accessible prose, Len Fisher demonstrates how we can foresee and manage events that might otherwise catch us by surprise.

At the cutting edge of science, Fisher helps us find ways to act before a full-fledged catastrophe is upon us. Crashes, Crises, and Calamities is a witty and informative exploration of the chaos, complexity, and patterns of our daily lives.

 

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CRASHES, CRISES, AND CALAMITIES: Using Science to Anticipate Disasters

User Review  - Kirkus

Popular-science writer Fisher (The Perfect Swarm: The Science of Complexity in Everyday Life, 2009, etc.) examines the search for warning signals preceding disastrous events.The author ... Read full review

Contents

Also by LEN FISHER
Do Animals Have Crystal Balls?
The Future Eclipsed
Galileos Hell
The Stress of It
Runaway Disaster
The Balance of Nature and the Nature of Balance
The Chaotic Ecology of Dragons
Teetering on the Brink of Catastrophe
Models and Supermodels
Beware of Mathematicians
Weak Signals as Major EarlyWarning Signs
The Future of Forecasting
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Crashes, Crises, and Calamities: How We Can Use Science to Read the Early ...
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Common terms and phrases

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Bibliographic information

QR code for Crashes, Crises, and Calamities
TitleCrashes, Crises, and Calamities: How We Can Use Science to Read the Early-Warning Signs
AuthorLen Fisher
Editionillustrated
PublisherBasic Books, 2011
ISBN0465023355, 9780465023356
Length256 pages
Subjects › 

Science / General
  
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