The complexity reference shelf

List of the best current books on complexity annotated by Tjurunga principals Dr Roger Bradbury and Bohdan Durnota. The list is divided into the following sections:

• Just getting in to complexity? Try these by the experts ...
• Want to know what's happening at the edge? Try these ...
• Worth a look ...

---

See also an extensive library of books on the science of complexity available from Amazon.com.

Enter keywords...

---

Just getting in to complexity? Try these by the experts ...

Sherman, H. & Schultz, R. (1998) Open Boundaries.Reading, MA, Perseus.
A good antidote to the 'complexity - lite' books at the airport bookshops
An introduction for the business reader to the use of complex adaptive systems in business from our colleagues at Santa Fe Associates International

Bossomaier, T. & Green, D. (1998) Patterns in the sand: Computers, complexity and life. Sydney, Allen & Unwin.
An easy first book on complexity
A readable introduction to complexity by two of the leading Australian researchers

Toohey, B. (1994) Tumbling Dice. Melbourne, Heinemann.
The clearest argument about why non-linearity matters in the economy
Not in the mainstream of complexity thinking but an excellent non-technical treatment of the failure of the traditional economic paradigm and the need to understand complexity and non-linearity

Holland, J. H. (1998) Emergence: From Chaos to Order. New York, Helix Books.
The one for beginners to come to grips with the essence of complexity
The latest work by one of the leaders of complexity thinking

Axelrod, R. & Cohen, M. D. (1999) Harnessing complexity. New York, Free Press.
Axelrod's ideas distilled for business
A thoughtful and accessible study of the implications of complexity thinking for organization behaviour

Coveney, P. and Highfield, R. (1995) Frontiers of Complexity: The Search for Order in a Chaotic World. London, Faber and Faber.
A classic - the first good popularisation of complexity thinking.
A well-written book for the general reader, but now becoming dated

---

Want to know what's happening at the edge? Try these ...

Bossomaier, T. & Green, D. (eds) (2000) Complex systems.Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
From the authors of 'Patterns in the sand'
A great collection of the best recent thinking and research on complexity with an Australian spin

Kohler, T. A. & Gumerman, G. J. (eds) (2000) Dynamics in human and primate societies: Agent-based modelling of social and spatial processes.Oxford, Oxford University Press.
In the tradition of Axelrod, but not for beginners
The best collection of leading-edge studies on the use of complexity in the social sciences

Casti, J. L. (1997) Would-be Worlds. New York, John Wiley.
You can skip the maths and still keep up with Casti's lucid prose, but not for beginners
A new look at modelling and simulation of complex systems from a leading light at the Santa Fe Institute, and a frequent contributor to New Scientist magazine

Arthur, B., Durlauf, S. and Lane, D. (eds) (1997) The Economy as an Evolving Complex System II. New York, Addison-Wesley.
The researchers' book on complexity in economics
An excellent compilation of leading-edge complexity research in economics

Axelrod, R. M. (1997) The Complexity of cooperation : Agent-based models of competition and collaboration. Princeton, Princeton University Press.
The researchers' book on complexity in the social sciences
The best introduction to the use of agent-based modelling to understand social systems and organisation

Holland, J. H. (1995) Hidden order: How adaptation builds complexity. Reading, MA, Addison-Wesley.
Not for beginners (who should read his 'Emergence'), but very powerful
A good introduction to complexity by one of the key players from the Santa Fe Institute

Kauffman, S. A. (1995) At home in the universe: The search for laws of self-organization and complexity. London, Oxford University Press.
Repays the time taken to get into it, but takes itself a bit too seriously
A major, but readable work on complexity and living systems

---

Worth a look ...

Petzinger, T (1999) The new pioneers.New York, Simon & Schuster.
Not quite an 'airport thriller', but close
A journalist's fairly breathless account of what business is learning from complexity

Kelly, S & Allison, M. A. (1998) The complexity advantage.New York, McGraw-Hill.
Like Petziner, a bit breathless in the modern management style, but worth a browse
Complexity for business in fourteen easy steps, by two traditional management consultants

Gharajedachi, J. (1999) Systems thinking: Managing chaos and complexity.Boston, Butterworth Heinemann.
Traditional systems thinking = non-linearity but no evolution = best practice for the 80s
A case study based analysis of the use of more a traditional systems approach to strategic business problems

Sterman, J. D. (2000) Business dynamics; Systems thinking and modelling for a complex world. New York, McGraw-Hill.
The best exposition of traditional system dynamics, but lacks an evolutionary spin
A very comprehensive treatment of system dynamics for business from its home at MIT