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Entropy - God's Dice Game: The book describes the historical evolution of the understanding of entropy, alongside biographies of the scientists who ... communication theory, economy, and sociology
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About Entropy - God's Dice Game: The Book Describes The
Product Description Why do we want more and more money regardless of how much we already have? Why do we hate to be manipulated and to lose? Why do twenty percent of the people own eighty percent of the wealth? Why in most languages, does the most common word appear twice as often as the second most common word? Why does the digit “1” appear in company balance sheets six and a half times more often than the digit “9”? Why does nature hate “bubbles”?The cause for all these phenomena is the very same law that makes water flow from high to low, and heat flow from a hot place to a cold one. This law, which for historical reasons is called the Second Law of Thermodynamics, states that there is a never-decreasing always-increasing quantity called entropy. Entropy represents the uncertainty of a system in hypothetical equilibrium where everybody and everything have equal opportunities but slim chances to win; or in other words – the majority have little and a few have a lot.The book describes the historical evolution of the understanding of entropy, alongside the biographies of the scientists who contributed to its definition and to the exploration of its effects in numerous domains including exact sciences, communication theory, economics and sociology. This book should be of interest to a broad audience, from scientists, engineers and students to the general public. From Kirkus Reviews A remarkably complex yet fascinating scientific exploration that illuminates a particularly thorny area of physics for laypersons and professionals alike. What is entropy? It’s a measure of uncertainty, but how is it defined in nature? How does it relate to other things like corporate communications and social networking? These are all questions that some of the most brilliant minds of the 19th and 20th centuries have pondered. Whether or not readers who don’t wear lab coats will comprehend this latest foray into the inner workings of the physical world depends largely on a reader’s determination and ability to wade through hieroglyphic formulas that extend far beyond freshman physics. This isn’t StarTalk Live or even Cosmos, but rather an ambitious textbook that seeks to appeal to learned scientists without leaving the rest of us numskulls behind. Gently paced discussions about “symmetrical” and “asymmetrical” networks having profound implications for achievable concepts in air travel and online communication perhaps come closest to hitting the mark. Generous bios of entropy’s greatest thinkers, meanwhile, add a much-needed human element to the proceedings. Nevertheless, even overviews of such giants in the field as James Clerk Maxwell and Claud Elwood Shannon come dangerously close to becoming dry resumes rather than engaging biographies. Take, for instance, this crisply written revelation: “Today, Shannon’s insight is part of the design of virtually all storage systems that digitally process and transfer information from flash memories on through computer and telephone communication, to space vehicles.” Although a few of these intriguing biographical bits might appeal to a wider audience, readers searching for a deeper exploration of “black body radiation” and the Second Law of Thermodynamics might consider Ludwig Boltzmann’s personal struggles an intrusion. An earnest examination that walks the tightrope between the scientific community and casual readers. About the Author Oded Kafri received a D.Sc. from the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology in 1973 for his research on laser radiation. His research experience is in thermodynamics of light, optical metrology, encryption and communication. Dr. Kafri served as senior scientist and a group leader at the Nuclear Research Center-Negev. He has published more than 100 scientific papers, among them two pioneering papers on "Visual Cryptography" and on "Moire deflectometry" and holds numerous patents and a scientific monograph. Dr. Kafri has received several international awards, among th
