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The Science of Disorder: Understanding the Complexity, Uncertainty, and Pollution in Our World
 
 
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The Science of Disorder: Understanding the Complexity, Uncertainty, and Pollution in Our World [Hardcover]

Jack Hokikian (Author)
5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)

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The Science of Disorder

The last 200 years have brought humankind an impressive array of technological marvels. These innovations have made their way into our industries, homes, and places of work. We are now surrounded with all kinds of "timesaving" devices, yet we have less time for ourselves than our parents and grandparents had. It seems that nothing is impossible for the human race and that we are in control of the world in which we live, yet biological and electronic bugs and viruses are threatening us daily in complex and unpredictable ways. World population and globalization of economies are growing steadily, as are environmental and socioeconomic disorders. Our technological powers are increasing, but so are their side effects and unintended consequences.

In the Science of Disorder, physicist and information technologist Jack Hokikian explains our predicament through the Laws of Thermodynamics--the Laws of Energy and Entropy. These laws control all processes in the universe, including our technologies and activities. Dr Hokikian gives a comprehensive review of the significance of these fundamental Laws of Nature, especially as they apply to the environment and to our lives. He shows us how we can attain--through the Laws of Thermodynamics--a philosophy of life that can guide us in our daily actions and decisions.

About the Author

Jack Hokikian received his Ph.D. in experimental nuclear physics from the University of Southern California. In the 1970s, he worked at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where he was involved in orbit determination of spacecrafts. He has taught computer science courses at the University of Southern California and at the California State University at Northridge. He has conducted seminars in database design for management and technical audiences. He currently works for a health organization as a data architect.
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Our world is changing rapidly and becoming more complex, disordered, and polluted. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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5.0 out of 5 stars Inherently interesting & exceptionally well written, Aug 8 2003
This review is from: The Science of Disorder: Understanding the Complexity, Uncertainty, and Pollution in Our World (Hardcover)
The Science Of Disorder by Jack Hokikian is a thoughtful and thought-provoking examination of how increasing human population, globalization, and technological advances come with harmful side effects such as new diseases, electronic viruses, environmental degradation, and more. With an eye on how the Laws of Thermodynamics, Energy, and Entropy affect all the processes in the universe (including daily human life), The Science Of Disorder strives to make sense of a seeming disarray, while addressing a keen interest in the big picture and what it means for humanity's future. The Science Of Disorder is sometimes iconoclastic, inherently interesting, exceptionally well written, and a highly recommended addition to Environmental Studies, General Science, and Human Ecology Studies reading lists and reference collections.
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5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent view into the Laws of Thermodynamics, Jun 12 2003
By 
Brian (Long Beach, CA United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Science of Disorder: Understanding the Complexity, Uncertainty, and Pollution in Our World (Hardcover)
When I picked up this book ("The Science of Disorder, Understanding the Complexity, Uncertainty, and Pollution in Our World") two thoughts crossed my mind, first I am not qualified to understand it, and second, this may be a book in the line of "Physics for Dummies". Much to my surprise, neither of these thoughts came to fruition, Dr. Hokikian finds a way to decompose the Laws of Thermodynamics in all its complexity and apply them to the reality of my day to day existence. This is a book for those interested in detailed study into Thermodynamics, as well as ones (like myself) interested in understanding the Physical Laws of nature and how they apply. This is not to say that after I read this book I now comprehend Boltzmann's Entropy Relation (I did not in college, and still struggle with it), but I now can appreciate it. Or better stated by "stealing" words from Dr. Hokikian, when I read these concepts I can understand them "from the simplicity of the equation [and] also from the agreement between its theoretical predictions and actual experimental observations."
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5.0 out of 5 stars How the natural "disorder" of things affects all of us, Jun 10 2003
By 
David King "littlebrit" (Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: The Science of Disorder: Understanding the Complexity, Uncertainty, and Pollution in Our World (Hardcover)
This amazing book is a wonderful explanation of why so many disturbing and seemingly "chaotic" world events are occurring and what we could do to mitigate their effects. Jack Hokikian, a real scientist in the true meaning of the word, has taken a difficult yet critically important subject and created a "must-read" book for anyone who cares about our future on this increasingly crowded planet. Dr. Hokikian clearly describes the Laws of Thermodynamics and uses them to explain the accelerating "rush to disorder" which we are all experiencing in our daily lives. Far from being a dry dissertation about little-understood laws of Physics, Dr. Hokikian's brilliant and entertaining book brings home with a loud bang the critical importance of understanding the impacts of our universe's immutable physical laws and why we, and particularly our leaders, must be made to fully understand these impacts. He uses many rivetting examples from real life to clearly illustrate the chaos and disorder around us along with equally clearly explained causes and effects.
This beautiful book, in clear everyday language, spells out exactly why we see such increasing chaos and disorder around us and how we got to this point and how, once we understand this, we can slow down and perhaps even reverse this frightening process.
The author, Dr. Hokikian is no wild-eyed "mad scientist" nor is he a fanatical "tree-hugger". He is a University Physics Professor, a successful professional engineer and a highly-respected Database Systems designer.
I fully recommend this book to all who want to understand our world better. Practising scientists and engineers as well as laypersons with genuinely "inquiring minds" will gain tremendous insight and knowledge from this book while being entertained by Dr. Hokikian's lucid and elegant, non-patronizing writing style.
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