The Essence of Chaos

Chaos surrounds us. Seemingly random events — the flapping of a flag, a storm-driven wave striking the shore, a pinball’s path — often appear to have no order, no rational pattern. Explicating the theory of chaos and the consequences of its principal findings — that actual, precise rules may govern such apparently random behavior — has been a major part of the work of Edward N. Lorenz. In The Essence of Chaos, Lorenz presents to the general reader the features of this “new science,” with it...