Bücher von Ian Stewart

Is the universe around us a figment of our imagination? Or are our minds figments of reality? In this refreshing new look at the evolution of mind and culture, bestselling authors Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen eloquently argue that our minds necessarily evolved inextricably within the context of culture and language. They go beyond conventional reductionist ideas to look at how the mind is the response of an evolving brain trying to grapple with a complex environment. Along the way they develop new and intriguing insights into the nature of evolution, science and humanity.

Wozu brauchen wir im täglichen Leben Mathematik ? Warum es ganz und gar nicht «sinnlos» ist (wie viele zu Schulzeiten denken mögen), sich mit Mathematik zu beschäftigen, erklärt der renommierte Professor und Bestsellerautor Ian Stewart in seinem neuen faktenreichen und anschaulichen Buch. Tatsächlich würde unsere moderne Welt ohne Mathematik auseinanderfallen, denn sie begegnet uns überall: Wenn wir ein Selfie machen, einen Film gucken, ChatGPT nutzen oder eine Niere spenden , aber auch wenn im Supermarkt Regale aufgefüllt, ein Fall vor Gericht verhandelt wird oder eine Partei aus politischen Minderheiten Mehrheiten macht. Ian Stewart gewährt uns einen Blick hinter die Kulissen des Alltags und zeigt die Relevanz der Mathematik auch dort, wo wir sie nicht vermuten.

Don't poke your nose down a wormhole - you never know what you might find.Two universes joined by a wormhole pair that forms a 'loophole', with an icemoon orbiting through the loophole, shared between two different planetary systems in the two universes.A civilisation with uploaded minds in virtual reality served by artificial humans.A ravening Horde of replicating machines that kill stars.Real humans from a decrepit system of colony worlds.A race of hyperintelligent but somewhat vague aliens.Who will close the loophole... who will exploit it?Cover design: David A. Hardy

This highly interdisciplinary book, covering more than six fields, from philosophy and sciences all the way up to the humanities and with contributions from eminent authors, addresses the interplay between content and context, reductionism and holism and their meeting point: the notion of emergence. Much of today's science is reductionist (bottom-up); in other words, behaviour on one level is explained by reducing it to components on a lower level. Chemistry is reduced to atoms, ecosystems are explained in terms of DNA and proteins, etc. This approach fails quickly since we can't cannot extrapolate to the properties of atoms solely from Schrodinger's equation, nor figure out protein folding from an amino acid sequence or obtain the phenotype of an organism from its genotype. An alternative approach to this is holism (top-down). Consider an ecosystem or an organism as a whole: seek patterns on the same scale. Model a galaxy not as 400 billion-point masses (stars) but as an object in its own right with its own properties (spiral, elliptic). Or a hurricane as a structured form of moist air and water vapour. Reductionism is largely about content, whereas holistic models are more attuned to context. Reductionism (content) and holism (context) are not opposing philosophies - in fact, they work best in tandem. Join us on a journey to understand the multifaceted dialectic concerning this duo and how they shape the foundations of sciences and humanities, our thoughts and, the very nature of reality itself.

Das Standardwerk der Transaktionsanalyse, die einen der ersten Plätze einnimmt unter den modernen Methoden der Psychotherapie. Konkret und praxisbezogen geht es hier um zwischenmenschliche Kommunikation. Ob aus beruflichem oder privatem Interesse: unverzichtbar für Therapeuten, Laien und jeden, der TA näher kennenlernen möchte.

A workshop on Singularities, Bifuraction and Dynamics was held at Warwick in July 1989, as part of a year-long symposium on Singularity Theory and its applications. The proceedings fall into two halves: Volume I mainly on connections with algebraic geometry and volume II on connections with dynamical systems theory, bifurcation theory and applications in the sciences. The papers are original research, stimulated by the symposium and workshop: All have been refereed and none will appear elsewhere. The main topic of volume II is new methods for the study of bifurcations in nonlinear dynamical systems, and applications of these.

Sie kamen aus allen Schichten und lebten in aller Herren Länder; sie waren Exzentriker wie Isaac Newton, Außenseiter wie Alan Turing oder gehörten zum Establishment wie Pierre de Fermat. Sie starben früh wie George Boole oder wurden steinalt wie Benoit Mandelbrot, waren Wunderknaben wie Karl Friedrich Gauss oder mussten sich mit Vorurteilen herumschlagen wie Emmy Noether. Fünfundzwanzig Biografien von bahnbrechenden Größen der Mathematik versammelt Ian Stewart in diesem Band. 25 abgeschlossene Lebensgeschichten über 25 Jahrhunderte, die davon erzählen, wie und unter welchen Lebens- und Gesellschaftsumständen die ganz Großen zu ihren historischen Entdeckungen kamen. Wobei Mathematiker dieses Kalibers eben nicht entdecken, was schon da wäre, sondern das Neuland selbst erschaffen, das sie und wir anderen dann betreten. Drei Frauen sind darunter (Augusta Ada King, Sofia Kowalewskaja und Emmy Noether), denen Stewart besonderen Respekt zollt, weil sie nicht nur mit kniffligen Berechnungen, sondern auch mit rigiden gesellschaftlichen Hindernissen und Vorurteilen zu kämpfen hatten.Gibt es das Mathe-Gen? - Nein, sagt Stewart. Aber bei vielen gibt es durchaus einen hochentwickelten Hirnsektor für das Visuelle. Tatsächlich denken große Mathematiker mehr in Bildern als in Formeln; sie sind konzentrationsstark, haben ein gutes Gedächtnis, große Ausdauer und folgen gern ihrer Intuition. Die meisten jedenfalls. Allen gemeinsam aber ist eine Besessenheit von Mathematik, die sie über die Zeiten und Länder, über Herkunft und Status hinweg zu herausragenden Wissenschaftlern machte.

It is only in recent times that infinite-dimensional Lie algebras have been the subject of other than sporadic study, with perhaps two exceptions: Cartan's simple algebras of infinite type, and free algebras.

With over 25,000 copies sold since its first edition, this book provides an unrivalled introduction to the core concepts and basic techniques of transactional analysis (TA).

Bifurcation theory studies how the structure of solutions to equations changes as parameters are varied. Four broad topics are covered: group theory and steady-state bifurcation, equicariant singularity theory, Hopf bifurcation with symmetry, and mode interactions.

The framework of 'symmetry' provides an important route between the abstract theory and experimental observations. From the reviews:"[The] rich collection of examples makes the book...extremely useful for motivation and for spreading the ideas to a large Community."--MATHEMATICAL REVIEWS

Students often find the subject of complex analysis very difficult. An opening chapter provides a brief history of complex analysis which sets it in context and provides motivation.

Enter the magical maze of mathematics and explore the surprising passageways of a fantastical world where logic and imagination converge. For mathematics is a maze-a maze in your head-a maze of ideas, a maze of logic. And that maze in your mind is a powerful tool for understanding an even bigger maze-the one of cause and effect that we call "e;the universe."e; That is its special kind of magic. Real magic. Strange magic. Infinitely fascinating magic. Acclaimed author Ian Stewart leads you swiftly and humorously through the junctions, byways, and secret passages of the magical maze to reveal its beauty, surprise, and power. Along the way, he reveals the infinite possibilities that arise from what he calls "e;the two-way trade between the natural world and the human mind."e; If you've always loved mathematics, you will find endless delights in the twists and turns of The Magical Maze. If you've always hated mathematics, a trip through this marvelous book will do much to change your mind.

Many of us already have at least a passing acquaintance with procedural languages such as BASIC or Pascal, but may not have met a functional language like Lisp before.

An eminent teacher and writer explores an idea both simple and complex, both multidisciplinary and unifying-the story of symmetry

Offers 30 practical suggestions to help practising counsellors develop and enhance their Transactional Analysis (TA) counselling skills. After an introductory section that summarizes the uses of TA theory and technique, this book covers crucial aspects of best practice in TA.

Part of the "Key Figures in Psychotherapy" series, this text chronicles the life, contributions and influence of Eric Berne, founder of Transactional Analysis counselling.