The Computational Beauty of Nature

By Gary William Flake

Categories: Computers & Technology, Science & Math

The Computational Beauty of Nature (1998) by computer scientist Gary William Flake shows how simple rules, repeated many times, can produce rich and complicated behavior. Flake explores four topics: fractals, chaos, complex systems and adaptation. Each part can be read on its own, with equations and programs readers can run, and he treats the computer as a laboratory for understanding nature, from fractal landscapes to artificial life, genetic algorithms and neural networks.

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• Vinod Khosla: “One of my favorite books from 20 years ago that my son used for his eight grade project! Fascinating and very explanatory: the computational properties of interactions that account for much of what we think of as beautiful and interesting in nature”