Explain many of the phenomenons that occur in nature, economics, and societies that have no current formulas (or the formula cannot be computed by humans). The book stresses that computer simulations could help us decipher the fields of chaos, complexity, and order. You will be surprised how many people think that the whole idea of understanding the universe by using reduction is total nonsense in some contexts.

One downside (or for some people a plus) is that the book goes to a great length to describe the complexity for an economist's point of view, while not spending that much time on complexity from a sociologist, anthropologist, or psychologist's point of view.

For me it is THE book of the last few years.
My background is technical. Some reviewers have complained that it touches too much on biographies and too little on "complexity". There may well be a lot of "humanity" in it. The end result, the overall effect, though [for me, of course] was spectacular.

This book, more than anything, is a detailed historical account of the establishment of the Santa Fe Institute in New Mexico. It is the chronicle of an industrious yet traumatic undertaking, which has been continuing for couple of decades in gathering scientists of different and seemingly disconnected fields to collaborate on the dynamics of complex systems and how they had finally institutionalized this effort.

The science of complexity is only treated to serve as a glue between the personal accounts of scientists (Brian Arthur,
Murray Gell-Mann, Phil Anderson, etc.), while any serious discussion of it throughout the text is conspiciously avoided. In this respect, I find the title somewhat delusive. However, the historical account is still helpful in stimulating interest in both aspiring and seasoned scientists in its subject-matter. Moreover, there are a myriad of excellent books and monographs on this subject by the original contributors albeit none of them is listed/suggested for further study by the author. However, for the willing person, unlike for many branches of basic sciences, the literature for further study is everything but sordid for complexity and nonlinear phenomena.

To sum up, this work might make a very good company for a long travel, since it does not demand excessive concentration or
thinking in grasping of its content and it is rather rich in witty anectodes. The required background is practically null for the reader`s side, so it is a safe popular science reading as well. However, considering the implications of the title, the content falls short in its coverage of complexity and this is a noticeable drawback.

I have no background in science or math. The human stories propelled this book for me and made me want to understand the technical material discussed. Maybe it is too human and not nitty-gritty enough for hard-core science junkies. Still, I'm glad this book was published for those of us who want to discuss topics like complexity and systems but don't have the attention span for drier material.

A very interesting read which covers the evolution of the Sante Fe Institute as it emerged from concept into focal point for the study of complexity and it's related facets. Nice reading as a novel, with interesting insight along the way to how new this field really is and how varied the perspectives on it.