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More About This Textbook
Overview
"Scott Page effectively illustrates the multiplicity of results from diverse aspects of complex systems. While all too many social scientists have tried to focus on making analysis simple, Page points out that this overlooks the great variety of relevant material in our social worlds. I am looking forward to having my students read it in my graduate seminar and encourage others to do so as well."—Elinor Ostrom, winner of the Nobel Prize in economics
"At once clear and precise, Page not only makes a persuasive case for the advantages of diversity in biological, ecological, and social systems alike, but also provides the reader with the analytical tools necessary to engage real-world debates in a rational, even quantitative manner. The result is a valuable primer on a difficult and important subject."—Duncan J. Watts, author of Small Worlds: The Dynamics of Networks between Order and Randomness
"Scott Page has performed a remarkable work of synthesis. The concepts of diversity and its implications for performance and growth are common to many fields, especially biology and economics. Page has drawn these illustrations together and shown the common elements and how each field illuminates others."—Kenneth J. Arrow, winner of the Nobel Prize in economics
"Page engagingly seduces readers into rather deep ideas in complex systems, including sophisticated mathematical formulas, by using a relaxed style with lots of examples. Yet the treatment is rigorous."—Simon A. Levin, Princeton University
"One of the book's many strengths is that it draws upon insights from seemingly disconnected areas of research and shows how they can be viewed within a common framework. Page's style is lively and conversational, making challenging subject matter quite readable, but without any sacrifice of rigor. He manages to convey both the excitement and difficulty of analyzing complex systems and the role of diversity within them."—Rajiv Sethi, Barnard College, Columbia University
What People Are Saying
Levin
Page engagingly seduces readers into rather deep ideas in complex systems, including sophisticated mathematical formulas, by using a relaxed style with lots of examples. Yet the treatment is rigorous.— Simon A. Levin, Princeton University
Rajiv Sethi
One of the book's many strengths is that it draws upon insights from seemingly disconnected areas of research and shows how they can be viewed within a common framework. Page's style is lively and conversational, making challenging subject matter quite readable, but without any sacrifice of rigor. He manages to convey both the excitement and difficulty of analyzing complex systems and the role of diversity within them.— Rajiv Sethi, Barnard College, Columbia University
Elinor Ostrom
Scott Page effectively illustrates the multiplicity of results from diverse aspects of complex systems. While all too many social scientists have tried to focus on making analysis simple, Page points out that this overlooks the great variety of relevant material in our social worlds. I am looking forward to having my students read it in my graduate seminar and encourage others to do so as well.— Elinor Ostrom, winner of the Nobel Prize in economics
Duncan J. Watts
At once clear and precise, Page not only makes a persuasive case for the advantages of diversity in biological, ecological, and social systems alike, but also provides the reader with the analytical tools necessary to engage real-world debates in a rational, even quantitative manner. The result is a valuable primer on a difficult and important subject.— Duncan J. Watts, author of "Small Worlds: The Dynamics of Networks between Order and Randomness"
Arrow
Scott Page has performed a remarkable work of synthesis. The concepts of diversity and its implications for performance and growth are common to many fields, especially biology and economics. Page has drawn these illustrations together and shown the common elements and how each field illuminates others.— Kenneth J. Arrow, winner of the Nobel Prize in economics
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Meet the Author
Scott E. Page is the Leonid Hurwicz Collegiate Professor of Complex Systems, Political Science, and Economics at the University of Michigan and an external faculty member at the Santa Fe Institute. He is the author of" The Difference: How the Power of Diversity Creates Better Groups, Firms, Schools, and Societies" (Princeton).
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Prelude: The Meaning of Diversity 1
1 On Diversity and Complexity 16
2 Measuring Diversity 54
3 The Creation and Evolution of Diversity 79
4 Constraints on Diversity 127
5 Variation in Complex Systems 148
6 Diversity's Inescapable Benefits I: Averaging 167
7 Diversity's Inescapable Benefits II: Diminishing Returns to Types 183
8 Diversity's Impact in Complex Systems 196
9 Parting Thoughts 249
Bibliography 257
Notes 271
Index 281