Sync

How Order Emerges from Chaos in the Universe, Nature, and Daily Life

By: Steven Strogatz

Narrated by: Kevin T. Collins

The tendency to synchronize may be the most mysterious and pervasive drive in all of nature. It has intrigued some of the most brilliant minds of the 20th century, including Albert Einstein, Richard Feynman, Norbert Wiener, Brian Josephson, and Arthur Winfree.

At once elegant and riveting, Sync tells the story of the dawn of a new science. Steven Strogatz, a leading mathematician in the fields of chaos and complexity theory, explains how enormous systems can synchronize themselves, from the electrons in a superconductor to the pacemaker cells in our hearts. He shows that although these phenomena might seem unrelated on the surface, at a deeper level there is a connection, forged by the unifying power of mathematics.

©2003 Steven H. Strogatz (P)2011 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

" Sync is a wonderfully lucid and thoroughly entertaining story of the emerging science of synchrony." (Brian Greene, author of The Elegant Universe, Professor of Physics and Mathematics, Columbia University)

"Inspiring... offers a real sense of what it's like to be at the beginning of Something Big." ( New Scientist)

"Beautifully written and breathtaking in scope, SYNC tells both a personal and a scientific story." (Charles S. Peskin, Professor of Mathematics and Neural Science, New York University)

Too long

Too long-winded. The narrator has an incredibly annoying voice. I can't believe I sat through what was it 13 hours of that. The book is good on the substance front, just fails in presentation.

Good listen providing good history on these ideas.

This is a good listen overall. The narration required no real stretch of ability; though there was one short part where the narrator changed slightly to accentuate the passage as an article excerpt. Very good work there, seriously.
I’m still very much a huge fan of “Understanding Complexity” by Page. That listen covered everything in this one with more clarity & applicable examples. “Sync” provides more history & depth of some characters in this realm, but I still prefer Page’s book. Keep in mind that “Understanding Complexity” is a set of lectures, so may come off as more dry than “Sync”.
Nonetheless, this is a good listen. I recommend this book if you are interested in chaos, complexity, Lorenze, Mandelbrot, small worlds & synchronicity.

fascinating but challenging

I only wish the author didn't dwelve so deep and so long into the technical details and difficulties

Not as intriguing as I expected.

Would you try another book from Steven Strogatz and/or Kevin T. Collins?

no.

Would you ever listen to anything by Steven Strogatz again?

no.

What about Kevin T. Collins’s performance did you like?

He showed enthusiasm for the subject.

Could you see Sync being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

no.

Any additional comments?

Not a read for fun. Educational, but not intriguing.

Good book, horrible narration

The book itself was great. Lots of good stories and examples, and the author did a great job making a big topic manageable. The narration, however, was just atrocious. If I ever re-read this book, it will be through Kindle, not Audible.