Art and Complexity edited by John Casti and Anders Karlqvist, Elsevier, $47/€46.95, ISBN 0444509445 Reviewed by Mike Holderness
WHEN scientists ask “what is Art?” the temptation to hide is strong. The mathematician John Casti and Anders Karlqvist, who is director-general of the Swedish Polar Research Secretariat, must have been aware when they took on the task of editing this collection how painful it is when scientists talk cobblers about art (artists are supposed to…).
Mercifully, in the best bits of Art and Complexity scientists exploit the question to spur thoughts about what makes a system complex. Because conventional…
