Table of Contents

1: Chaos Everywhere
2: Galileo Galilei --- Birth of a New Science
3: Isaac Newton --- Dynamics Perfected
4: Celestial Mechanics --- Clockwork Universe
5: Pendulum --- Linear and Nonlinear
6: Josephson Effect --- Synchronization
7: Chaos Forgets the Past
8: Chaos Takes a Random Walk
9: Chaos Makes Noise
10: Edward Lorenz --- Butterfly Effect
11: Chaos Comes of Age
12: Tilt-A-Whirl --- Chaos at the Amusement Park
13: Billiard-Ball Chaos --- Atomic Disorder
14: Iterated Maps --- Chaos Made Simple
15: State Space --- Going with the Flow
16: Strange Attractor
17: Fractal Geometry
18: Stephen Smale --- Horseshoe Map
19: Henri Poincaré --- Topological Tangle
20: Chaos Goes to Work

About the Author

Richard Kautz is an engineer and physicist who holds a doctorate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. During his career at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, he helped develop fundamental quantum standards for both voltage and capacitance. Kautz is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and a recipient of the Samuel Stratton Award for measurement science and the Edward Condon Award for scientific writing.

Reviews

`This is altogether a brilliantly written book that reflects the huge dedication and passion of the author to explaining the phenomenon of chaos. I can highly recommend this work to any reader who wishes to understand fundamental concepts and ideas of chaos without the need to employ any advanced mathematical formalism.'
Rainer Klages, Journal of Statistical Physics
`Dr. Kautz has written a book that captures the essentials of chaos in a quantitative way but without advanced mathematics. It is highly recommended for students and others with a good background in algebra and trigonometry and with a desire for a better understanding of the concepts of chaos.'
Julien Clinton Sprott, University of Wisconsin - Madison
`The writing style is engaging and readable... while there is a great deal of mathematical detail in the book, it is introduced carefully and thoroughly. Having a 'Dynamics Lab' of computational examples is an excellent notion, and will complement the book ideally.'
Rob Sturman, University of Leeds
`Kautz's Chaos provides a lively and clear introduction to many aspects of nonlinear dynamics, weaving together tales about the pendulum, Josephson junctions, the quincunx, the first four notes of Beethoven's 5th Symphony, the tilt-a-whirl and homoclinic tangles, using just algebra, geometry and trigonometry.'
Robert Hilborn, University of Texas at Dallas
`[Chaos] could serve as the basis for a college-level general science course as well as a resource for curious nonscientists. Kautz writes well, provides easy-to-follow explanations, and includes historical context through biographical sketches.'
Eric Kincanon, Choice Reviews
`Richard Kautz has written an excellent text that is suitable for undergraduates and provides the mathematical detail necessary to give a thorough introduction to chaos ... a superb book that presents chaos and chaotic systems so that readers will understand the concepts and understand what is so fascinating about this phenomenon ... I highly recommend this book.'
David Mazel, MAA Reviews