Notes on Complexity
On behalf of: Spiegel & Grau
Named one of The Marginalian’s Best Books of 2023
An electrifying introduction to complexity theory, the science of how complex systems behave—from cells to human beings, ecosystems, the known universe and beyond – that profoundly reframes our understanding and illuminates our interconnectedness.
“Lucid and luminous…Theise intertwine[s] the discoveries of Western science — from particle physics to neuroscience to chaos theory—with Eastern metaphysical traditions and his own longtime Zen Buddhist practice.”—Maria Popova, The Marginalian
“I’ve been telling everyone about this book recently”—The Edge, in The Guardian
Nothing in the universe is more complex than life. Throughout the skies, in oceans, and across lands, life is endlessly on the move. In its myriad forms—from cells to human beings, social structures, and ecosystems—life is open-ended, evolving, unpredictable, yet adaptive and self-sustaining. Complexity theory addresses the mysteries that animate science, philosophy, and metaphysics: how this teeming array of existence, from the infinitesimal to the infinite, is in fact a seamless living whole and what our place, as conscious beings, is within it. Physician, scientist, and philosopher Neil Theise makes accessible this “theory of being,” one of the pillars of modern science, and its holistic view of human existence. He notes the surprising underlying connections within a universe that is itself one vast complex system – between ant colonies and the growth of forests, cancer and economic bubbles, murmurations of starlings and crowds walking down the street.
The implications of complexity theory are profound, providing insight into everything from the permeable boundaries of our bodies to the nature of consciousness. Notes on Complexity is an invitation to trade our limited, individualistic view for the expansive perspective of a universe that is dynamic, cohesive, and alive—a whole greater than the sum of its parts. Theise takes us to the exhilarating frontiers of human knowledge and in the process restores wonder and meaning to our experience of the everyday.
Reviews
“This is an extraordinary book that will change the way you understand yourself and the universe. It will empower you. We should all be indebted to Neil Theise for this monumental contribution to the science behind all reality.”—Deepak Chopra
“A must-read instant classic for those who are determined to discover the true nature of reality.”–Robert Thurman, Jey Tsongkhapa Professor Emeritus, Columbia University
“Neil Theise manages to balance the scientific and the mystical, the factual and the unitive, and then integrates them in a way that will open people’s minds. Notes on Complexity gives us a new way to see life and understand our existence.”—Daniel Matt, author of God and the Big Bang, and the multi-volume annotated translation, The Zohar: Pritzker Edition
“This timely book invites us on a transformative journey into what is normally hidden from view—the complex, complementary interactions that inform science, art, and religion, and which illuminate our existence as conscious and creative beings, inseparable from the totality of life.”—Ian A. Baker, PhD, National Geographic Explorer for the Millennium and author of The Heart of the World
“In elegant and cinematic prose, Neil Theise takes us through the ‘shimmering webs’ of complexity—from the womb to the windy mountain rooftops of the world, so that we may come home to the everywhere and the everyone.”—Maureen Seaberg, author of Tasting the Universe