I have to say that I found this book less interesting than I had hoped. Coming to it with a biologist's interest in the emergence of complexity from simple systems, I found its detailed discussion of formal computer algorithms such as checkers-playing programs partly impenetrable (even though the serious maths is segregated into text boxes), and the dryness of the subject didn't make me want to penetrate it further. The discussion of scientific models and metaphors in general seemed simultaneously superficial (compared to what I have encountered from philosophers of science), and too detailed in specific areas of information theory that I don't appreciate. This book didn't grab me. It might interest students of information theory or computing theory, but I think most general readers would find it arid. MB 31-viii-2008 ( )

http://bactra.org/reviews/holland-on-emergence/ ( )