A New Kind of Science

Stephen Wolfram, 2002, Wolfram Media, Inc., 1197 pp., hardcover.

Two decades in the making, this long-awaited work from one of the world's most respected scientists presents a series of dramatic discoveries never before made public. Starting from a collection of simple computer experiments--illustrated in the book by striking computer graphics--Wolfram shows how their unexpected results force a whole new way of looking at the operation of our universe.

Wolfram uses his approach to tackle a remarkable array of fundamental problems in science: from the origin of the Second Law of Thermodynamics to the development of complexity in biology, the computational limitations of mathematics, the possibility of a truly fundamental theory of physics, and the interplay between free will and determinism.

Written with exceptional clarity and illustrated by more than a thousand original pictures, this seminal book allows scientists and non-scientists alike to participate in what promises to be a major intellectual revolution.

Chapters
Preface | The Foundations for a New Kind of Science | The Crucial Experiment | The World of Simple Programs | Systems Based on Numbers | Two Dimensions and Beyond | Starting from Randomness | Mechanisms in Programs and Nature | Implications for Everyday Systems | Fundamental Physics | Processes of Perception and Analysis | The Notion of Computation | The Principle of Computational Equivalence | Notes | Index

This book is available in the Wolfram Research bookstore.

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