Sync. The Emerging Science of Spontaneous Order

'Sync' is a story of a dazzling kind of order in the universe, the harmony that comes from cycles in sync. The tendency to sychronize is one of the most far- reaching drives in all of nature. It extends from people to planets, from animals to atoms. In 'Sync' professor Steven Strogatz considers a range of applications - human sleep and circadian rhythms, menstrual synchrony, insect outbreaks, superconductors, lasers, secret codes, heart arrhythmias and fads - connecting all trhough an exploration of the same mathematical theme: self-organisation, or the spontaneous emergence of order out of chaos. Focused enough to present a coherent world unto themselves, Strogatz's chosen topics touch on several of the hottest directions in contemporary science.