Six Sources of Collapse: A Mathematician's Perspective on How Things Can Fall Apart in the Blink of an Eye(Spectrum)

Beginning with one of the most remarkable ecological collapses of recent time, that of the passenger pigeon, Hadlock goes on to survey collapse processes across the entire spectrum of the natural and man-made world. He takes us through extreme weather events, technological disasters, evolutionary processes, crashing markets and companies, the chaotic nature of Earth's orbit, revolutionary political change, the spread and elimination of disease, and many other fascinating cases. His key thesis is that one or more of six fundamental dynamics consistently show up across this wide range. These ""six sources of collapse"" can all be best described and investigated using fundamental mathematical concepts. They include low probability events, group dynamics, evolutionary games, instability, nonlinearity, and network effects, all of which are explained in readily understandable terms. Almost the entirety of the book can be understood by readers with a minimal mathematical background, but even professional mathematicians are likely to get rich insights from the range of examples. The author tells his story with a warmly personal tone and weaves in many of his own experiences, whether from his consulting career of racing around the world trying to head off industrial disasters to his story of watching collapse after collapse in the evolution of an ecosystem on his New Hampshire farm. Creative teachers could use this book for anything from a liberal arts math course to a senior capstone seminar, and one reviewer suggested that it should be required reading for any mathematics graduate student heading off into a teaching career. This book will also be of interest to readers in the fields under discussion, such as business, engineering, ecology, political science, and others.

Table of Contents:
Preface Acknowledgements 1. Introduction 2. Predicting Unpredictable Events 3. Group Behavior: Crowds, Herds, and Video Games 4. Evolution and Collapse: Game Playing in a Changing World 5. Instability, Oscillation, and Feedback 6. Nonlinearity: Invitation to Chaos and Catastrophe 7. It's All About Networks 8. Putting It All Together: Looking at Collapse Phenomena in "6-D" References Index About the Author

About the Author :
Charles Hadlock has worked as a risk consultant in the chemical, power, transportation and mining industries. As the dean of a business school, he witnessed collapses of corporations, currencies and markets. Combined with his scientific background, interdisciplinary collaborative work and extensive management experience at the top levels of corporations and governments, he has a uniquely broad perspective on collapse processes. He has previously authored an award-winning monograph on field theory and an acclaimed text on mathematical modelling in environmental management.

Review :
Based on his experience as a risk consultant, manager, and professor of finance and mathematics, Hadlock examines the phenomenon of collapse from six different technical points of view, namely low probability events, group behavior, evolutionary processes, instability, nonlinear dynamics, and network effects. In each case, we are offered a high-level, accessible presentation of the underlying mathematical notions. … all chapters are rife with real-world instances of collapse that can be explained, or at least analysed, under one or more of the six approaches. Readers are likely to find such examples one of the most compelling contributions of the book." - Marco Faella, Mathematical Reviews "Hadlock's writing is invariably clear and concise, yet informal and appealing, as befits a mathematical memoirist. The book is by no means a textbook, although it could be regarded as a compendium of modules suitable for presentation to undergraduates at various stages of development by instructors seeking to enhance their lectures with a smattering of genuine applications. For that reason alone, every teaching mathematician should own a copy of this book!" - James Case, SIAM News "… The book is organized into chapters that can be read independently, but taken as whole it provides a very broad overview of the mathematical ideas behind complexity theory. Readers need some knowledge of calculus, differential equations, and probability to fully understand the material, but this book requires less mathematical background than many other books on this topic. It would be suitable for undergraduate students in science and engineering as well as students in the social sciences and management." - B. Borchers, CHOICE