Sync: How Order Emerges from Chaos In the Universe, Nature, and Daily Life 1st Edition,

At the heart of the universe is a steady, insistent beat—the sound of cycles in sync. Thousands of fireflies along the tidal rivers of Malaysia flash in unison; the moon spins in perfect resonance with its orbit around the earth; human hearts depend on the synchronous firing of ten thousand pacemaker cells. Though the forces synchronizing firefly flashes may seem unrelated to heart cells, a deep connection exists between them. Synchrony is a young science, and Strogatz is a pioneer in this field where mathematicians and physicists work to understand how spontaneous order emerges from chaos. The book spans disciplines, continents, and centuries—from underground caves in Texas where a French scientist spent six months alone tracking his sleep-wake cycle, to the home of a Dutch physicist who in 1665 discovered two of his pendulum clocks swinging in perfect time. Written for readers interested in works exploring complex systems and the nature of the universe, this book examines how order arises across natural and human systems.