Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Scientists have just begun to understand how complexity and organization can emerge from featurelessness and chaos. Is the way the universe is now in some sense predetermined? Is there, in other words, a cosmic blueprint? This book argues in favour of the idea of the creative universe, which recognizes the innovative character of physical processes, and suggests that the universe as a whole possesses a tendency to develop towards progressively higher levels of complex organization. Investigating some scientific discoveries, the author shows how the study of complexity reveals certain common holistic principles.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

Science expositor and physics professor Davies has written a fascinating book in which he examines the centuries-old conflict between holism and reductionism: What is the source of the universe's creative potency? He argues that the basic stuff of the universematter and energyis not simply inert, but has the ability to self-organize. Drawing on recent discoveries from biology, fundamental physics, cosmology, and brain research, Davies argues that the universe is developing an essential, unfolding pattern and order. While highly debatable, this is a provocative book that should be widely read. Strongly recommended for public libraries. Robert Paul, Dickinson Coll., Carlisle, Pa. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Booklist Review

When it comes to exploring the mysteries of the origins of the universe, it seems as if today's scientists have picked up where yesterday's theologians and philosophers left off. Paul Davies, professor of theoretical physics and author of many books, including The Edge of Infinity (Booklist 78:991 Ap 1 82), is at the forefront of such thinking. Here, he tackles the idea that all matter and energy self-organize according to common holistic principles and can continue to do so on increasingly higher levels; this implies predestiny, or a ``cosmic blueprint.'' In explaining this theory, Davies melds a variety of ideas and disciplines, from basic physics and biology to computer science, mathematics, genetics, and neurology. The book's real strengths are the author's clarity of thought and his ability to organize information to demonstrate how seemingly diverse concepts relate to a single theory. An exciting and formidable book. References, bibliography; to be indexed. MES. 530 Force and energy / Matter / Self-organizing systems / Cosmology [OCLC] 87-26442

Kirkus Book Review

The subtitle says it all: Davies (Physics/Univ. of Newcastle-on-Tyne) sees evidence of a guiding hand behind the creation of the universe, the world, and mankind. Thus, he enlarges on themes that he began to develop in Godand the New Physics (1983). In that volume, however, he included much discussion of past philosophical thinking; here he turns a fresh eye to contemporary developments in science and mathematics. For example, he details the findings from the mathematical studies of chaos so well explored in Gleick's Chaos (1987)--the fractal geometries, self-similar figures, strange attractors, and other phenomena emerging from the study of turbulence, population growth, and other non-equlibrium systems. These serve as examples of a complexity that defies the reductionist/mechanistic/Newtonian view the author deplores. Throughout, Davies applies terms like ""global cooperation"" and ""self organization"" to inanimate as well as animate systems, implying that a holistic principle is in operation. When it comes to life itself, he poses important questions of origins, of the rise of complexity, and of morphogenesis (the development of specialized cells and organs from a single cell), deriding molecular theories that invoke chance alone. Davies does not indicate exactly what his holistic principle is, preferring instead to lay out a variety of hypotheses (e.g., Gaia, the anthropic principle, or the theories of David Bohm or Rupert Sheldrake, along with some caveats). He also can be faulted for overkill of reductionism, and, in the end, the skeptical reader may remain unconvinced. But that does not take away from the exhilaration of reading about new fields and scientific discoveries in Davies' fine style. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Paul Davies is an internationally acclaimed physicist, writer and broadcaster. He received degrees in physics from University College, London.

He was Professor of Natural Philosophy in the Australian Centre for Astrobiology at Macquarie University, Sydney and has held previous academic appointments at the Universities of Cambridge, London, Newcastle upon Tyne and Adelaide. Most of his research has been in the area of quantum field theory in curved spacetime.

Davies has also has written many books for the general reader in the fascinating fields of cosmology and physics. He is the author of over twenty-five books, including The Mind of God, Other Worlds, God and the New Physics, The Edge of Infinity, The Cosmic Blueprint, Are We Alone?, The Fifth Miracle, The Last Three Minutes, About Time, and How to Build a Time Machine.

His awards include an Advance Australia Award for outstanding contributions to science, two Eureka Prizes, the 2001 Kelvin Medal and Prize by the Institute of Physics, and the 2002 Faraday Prize by The Royal Society for Progress in religion. He also received the Templeton Prize for his contributions to the deeper implications of science. In April 1999 the asteroid 1992 OG was officially named (6870) Pauldavies in his honour.

(Bowker Author Biography)