Think Complexity

Preface

Why I Wrote This Book

This book is inspired by boredom and fascination: boredom with the usual presentation of data structures and algorithms, and fascination with complex systems. The problem with data structures is that they are often taught without a motivating context; the problem with complexity science is that it is usually not taught at all.

In 2005, I developed a new class at Olin College where students read about topics in complexity, implement experiments in Python, and learn about algorithms and data structures. I wrote the first draft of this book when I taught the class again in 2008.

For the third offering, in 2011, I prepared the book for publication and invited the students to submit their work in the form of case studies for inclusion in the book. I recruited nine professors at Olin to serve as a program committee and choose the reports that were ready for publication. The case studies that met the standard are included in this book. For the next edition, we invite additional submissions from readers (see Appendix A).

Suggestions for Teachers

This book is intended as a scaffold for an intermediate-level college class in Python programming and algorithms. My class uses the following structure:

Reading

Complexity science is a collection of diverse topics. There are many interconnections, but it takes time to see them. To help students see the big picture, I give them readings from popular presentations of work in the field. My reading list and suggestions on how ...