The goals of this book are to give the readers a global perspective and a
willingness of their own specialities as well as those of others as being part of that
unity. The concepts that justify this perspective are, at least in some fields, very
precise and therefore most precisely stated in the language of mathematics.
Ayres does not hesitate to use mathematical statements where they best express
the ideas. Yet the book is a book of words and concepts, not a book of equations
and mathematical formalism. It is, in fact, a good read for someone uneasy with
equations who nevertheless wants a sense of amateur's mastery over the book's
unifying themes.
Author(s): Robert U. Ayres
Edition: 1
Publisher: American Institute of Physics
Year: 1994
Language: English
Pages: XVIII; 301
City: New York
Title Page
Table of Contents
Foreword by R. Stephen Berry
Preface
Introduction: Evolution as Accumulation of Useful Information
Chapter 1: Concepts, Definitions, and Analogies
Chapter 2: Information and Thermodynamics
Chapter 3: Physical Evolution: From the Universe to the Earth
Chapter 4: Geological and Biochemical Evolution
Chapter 5: Biological Evolution
Chapter 6: Evolution in Human Social Systems
Chapter 7: Evolution in Economic Systems
Chapter 8: The Economy as a Self-Organizing Information-Processing System
Chapter 9: Information Added by Materials Processing
Chapter 10: Morphological Information
Chapter 11: Labor as an Information Process
Chapter 12: Evolution, Economics, and Environmental Imperatives
Afterword by Allen V. Kneese
Index
