Turtles, Termites, and Traffic Jams: Explorations in Massively Parallel Microworlds (Complex Adaptive Systems)

Book Description

How does a bird flock keep its movements so graceful and synchronized? Most people assume that the bird in front leads and the others follow. In fact, bird flocks don't have leaders: they are organized without an organizer, coordinated without a coordinator. And a surprising number of other systems, from termite colonies to traffic jams to economic systems, work the same decentralized way. Turtles, Termites, and Traffic Jams describes innovative new computational tools that can qhelp people (even young children) explore the workings of such systems--and help them move beyond the centralized mindset.

Customer Reviews:

Is a good start but needs more..........2007-06-13

Book needs some more content, it gives a good first level intro but does not develop it into more interesting/advanced things.

50% of the book is a 'sales' pitch for StarLogo.

If you have experience with writing code for simulations this book is a bit light technically.

Still has some interesting ideas in it.

The arcane made accessible.......2006-03-28

On the surface, the book seems focused on computers and even video games. This makes the activities appealing for middle and high school students. However, the ideas in this book are actually relevant to two entirely different fields: 1) genetics, and 2) artificial intelligence. Both these fields have at their centers the concept of complexity arising out of simplicity. Students who work their way though the activites in this book will find that Dr. Resnick offers a window into a deep mathematical world that has applications far beyond computers and games.

Great Starting Point in Agent based Modelling.......2005-10-17

Mitchel Resnick shares a lovely sense of wonder, discovery and fascination in this slim, easily read volume about agent based modelling. Using micro-worlds (termites, ants and other modelling metaphors) Resnick shows us how collective behaviours are more than a simple sum of the parts - and through his experiments using StarLogo programming he shows the nature of emergent behaviours that come through decentralised thinking.

His reading list is a great starting point for anyone fascinated by Complexity and Agent Based Modelling, and so too is his elegant list of guiding heuristics that he has learned through toying with various ants, termites, forest fires and traffic jams.

- Positive feedback (in models) often plays a vital role.
- Randomness can help create order. Random isn't always chaotic.
- A Flock is not a big bird. The behaviour of groups should not be confused with the behaviour of individuals.
- A traffic jam is not just a collection of cars. Emergent objects have an ever-changing composition.
- The hills are alive. Don't just focus on the individual objects - look also at their environment.

This volume helped our research team design approach agent-based modelling, and put us in touch with other avenues of decentralised thinking: for example Network Theory. Best of all, Resnick helped us lighten-up. This book (and its subject matter) has profound ideas, but never loses a delicious sense of awe. Recommended.

interesting, but describes an old version of the software.......2003-09-28

This is a book describing the research of a team at MIT using a version of the educational language "Logo". Running in a simple graphical environment which supports multiple parallel operation of code in the same shared space. Write a few lines of code for an "ant", then let 1000 of them loose. The current version of this "StarLogo" system is written in Java, and available as a free download for anyone to play with.

The use of Logo is both a strength and a weakness of the approach. The strength is that the code is concise and easy to understand. The weakness is that there is only one source of the software, and anyone wishing to try it is limited to the available download. This would not be such a limitation if the book described the same version, but unfortunately things have moved on a lot since the book was written, and few (if any) of the examples will work without alteration.

As well as the development of the StarLogo system, the book covers experiments in emergent behaviour. Typical sections include how parameter and environment changes can affect the growth and development of simulated ant colonies, and a theoretical basis for those "phantom traffic jams" we have all experienced.

This book is certainly interesting if you are interested in developing parallel software simulations, or if you are interested in marginal computer languages, but don't expect the code to work without effort.

Invention - on all levels.......2002-10-14

This book provided the motivating force to write my first, and last, review for Amazon.com.

Over the past 5 years since my first reading Mitchel Resnick's Turtles Turmites and Traffic Jams, the book has come up on numerous occasions related to several topics, two of which most basically:

1) Writing style - Resnick's clear, well-researched, simple yet profound style. His background as journalist and inventor enables TT&T to walk a new line between source material and criticism.

2) Content - Resnick's theoretical application of emergent behavior to education is robust; his practical educational tools (starlogo and later, mindstorms) are a fundamentally clear and wondrous collapsing of idea into artifact.

Amazon.com

"Even when Roberto was little, he went against the grain. Like most termites, he melted over maple, and pined for pine. Oak was okay, too. But Roberto didn't eat his food. He played with it."

Young Roberto has a burning desire to become an architect. Even when the other termites mock his ambition, Roberto is never derailed from his dream. So, like so many career-minded youth, this mite with a mission sets off for the big, buggy city. Here, sadly, he is thwarted by his heroes, Hank Floyd Mite and Fleas Van Der Rohe. But this inspired insect decides not to wallow in his sorrows but to help out other bugs with even greater problems. Soon, a fantastic, eclectic housing development is in the works. The mysterious architect chooses to remain anonymous, but ultimately can't avoid the grateful adulation of the carpenter ants, ladybugs, and house flies he has helped.

Nina Laden's fantastic collages use old catalog and magazine images, blueprints, cork veneer, and lots more, to create buildings, cities, and buggy creatures the likes of which you've never seen. The Leaning Tower of Pisa tilts away from the Empire State Building, with Gaudi's quirky sculptural edifices looming nearby. Some of the hilarious wordplay may fly over the heads of non-architects, but the overall humorous effect--and the go-for-your-goals message--will not be lost on anyone. For more charming and artistic pun-ishment, try Laden's When Pigasso Met Mootisse. (Ages 6 to 11) --Emilie Coulter

Book Description

Ever since he was a wee mite (a termite, that is), Roberto has wanted to be an architect. Discouraged by his wood-eating family and friends, he decides to follow his dream to the big, bug city. There he meets a slew of not-so-creepy, crawly characters who spark in him the courage to build a community for them all.

With stunning collage illustrations and witty text, the creator of the bestselling The Night I Followed the Dog, Private I. Guana, and When Pigasso Met Mootisse brings to life a funny and inspirational story that will encourage readers of any age to build their dreams.

Customer Reviews:

Creative Book.......2007-03-11

This is a very sweet story with very unique illustrations. I am hoping it will spark the imagiination of my grandson and help him to identify and appreciate his mothers career path.

Great first book for baby architect.......2005-10-14

I found out about this book from a fellow architect who was looking for architecture related children's books for her children. I enjoyed it so much that I purchased it for another architect friend's baby shower and will continue to purchase it for other architect friends in the future, as well as for my own children when the time comes. The story is very cute, the names are clever and the illustrations are fun. The perfect book for a future architect.

Quite lovely........2005-08-23

Nina Laden, Roberto the Insect Architect (Chronicle, 2000)

There's something to be said for reading childrens' picture books every now and again. Childrens' authors can't get away with as much as adult authors can; for one thing, they generally have less room in which to get away with it (unless they are J. K. Rowling or Clive Barker, the vanguards of the burgeoning "childrens' doorstop" movement); for another, kids have an innate crap detector adults seem to get rid of as they get older. Reading chidlrens' books is a good way of grounding yourself, if you've gotten stuck in a rut of overly wordy stuff.

Roberto the Insect Architect is a fun one. (And note that a number of Amazon reviews of it have been posted by adults who own the book for themselves rather than their kids.) It's your basic "be yourself" kind of book, and reminds me in many ways of Randall Jarrell's brilliant The Bat-Poet. It's shorter, of course, being for a younger audience, and the points that are made are closer to the surface, but Laden still keeps things in hand by letting the story tell the story and giving visual cues that will make the reader of the intended age work (for example, Roberto's dream and its realization, which bookend the narrative in pictures instead of words). Worth reading for all ages. ****

An enterprising termite.......2005-08-18

Another in the impressive Chronicle series of children's books, Roberto, the Insect Architect is the latest invention of author/artist Nina Laden, the fascinating tale of a wee mite ("termite, that is"), who grows up wanting to build things out of wood, not just feast on it, going against the grain of family obligations. Roberto aspires to make a name for himself, much like those he so admires, Hank Floyd Mite and Fleas van der Rohe, but he is discouraged when his parents complain that Roberto he has "bitten off more than he can chew" this time. Against all odds, Roberto sets out for the big city, where he draws inspiration for his designs from all manner of creepy crawlers.

Unfortunately, Robert's heroes, Hank Floyd Mite and Fleas van der Rohe, have no time to spare for an unknown architect, but Roberto remains undaunted, believing in himself. Soon he has designed a unique variety of dwellings, works of art that are also functional: the ladybug gets a fireproof home to keep her children safe, the carpenter ant a workshop for his projects, an abode for the house fly, even a habitable dwelling for the roaches. With perseverance and an inventive spirit, Roberto the Architect proves that anything is possible when there is determination and talent. Roberto achieves his goals and the world is better for it, all in a spirit of community. This clever story of creativity and inspiration, teaches a valuable lesson about believing in our dreams. Luan Gaines/2005.

Roberto, The Insect Architect is really great.......2005-07-24

My kids love this book, the story is fun and the art work is great. My wife an I both enjoy this book to and we often purchase extra copies to give as birthday gifts to other children.

Born in Flames: Termite Dreams, Dialectical Fairy Tales, and Pop Apocalypses

Average customer rating:

Screams out against lifelessness and the will to demean...

Born in Flames: Termite Dreams, Dialectical Fairy Tales, and Pop Apocalypses
Howard Hampton
Manufacturer: Harvard University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Popular Culture | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Faking It: The Quest for Authenticity in Popular Music
Reading Comics: How Graphic Novels Work and What They Mean
The Shape of Things to Come: Prophecy and the American Voice
Against the Day
David Lynch's Inland Empire (Limited Edition Two-Disc Set)

ASIN: 067402317X

Book Description

Twenty years as an outsider scouring the underbelly of American culture has made Howard Hampton a uniquely hardnosed guide to the heart of pop darkness. Bridging the fatalistic, intensely charged space between Apocalypse Now Redux and Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit," his writing breaks down barriers of ignorance and arrogance that have segregated art forms from each other and often from the world at large.

In the freewheeling spirit of Pauline Kael, Lester Bangs, and Manny Farber, Hampton calls up the extremist, underground tendencies and archaic forces simmering beneath the surface of popular forms. Ranging from the kinetic poetry of Hong Kong cinema and the neo-New Wave energy of Irma Vep, to the punk heroines of Sleater-Kinney and Ghost World, Born in Flames plays odd couples off one another: pitting Natural Born Killers against Forrest Gump, contrasting Jean-Luc Godard with Steven Spielberg, defending David Lynch against aesthetic ideologues, invoking The Curse of the Mekons against Fredric Jameson's Postmodernism, and introducing D. H. Lawrence to Buffy the Vampire Slayer. "We are born in flames," sang the incandescent Lora Logic, and here those flames are a source of illumination as well as destruction, warmth as well as consumption.

From the scorched-earth works of action-movie provocateurs Seijun Suzuki and Sam Peckinpah to the cargo cult soundscapes of Pere Ubu and the Czech dissidents Plastic People of the Universe, Born in Flames is a headlong plunge into the passions and disruptive power of art.

Customer Reviews:

Screams out against lifelessness and the will to demean..........2007-02-23

Howard Hampton's "Born In Flames," is so vividly written, each sentence like a crazed aphorism on some bleak American-gothic apocalypse just this side of redemption-via-imagination, a creatural re-imagining beyond the blood darkness, effluvia, and debris of our times and ordinary lives. One could study how to write essays and to organize cultural collections around wild tropes by such a book. Not sure the introduction gets at what the individual essays are doing alone or in the aggregate, but it is a book that calls out for one to come to terms with it, as a way of reading film and music and US culture as such, as crazed intervention, as a will to create and transform the ordinary in style and cultural-extremity production. He can get from moments in Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid to larger shifts in the culture, and from Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia to the blood poetry of some US frontier apocalypse, still to come. That book so wrought is probably more crammed with speculation and implication than whole issues of PMLA in their professionalized repetition of approach and language. That cover screams out against lifelessness and routine modes of writing or being. This is a quest for rebirth, life "born in flames" not death or negation or the will to demean...

Subterranean termites: Their prevention and control in buildings (Home and garden bulletin)

Average customer rating:

Subterranean termites: Their prevention and control in buildings (Home and garden bulletin)
Raymond H Beal
Manufacturer: For sale by the Supt. of Docs., U.S. G.P.O
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B00071RB7C

Average customer rating:

Termite Repair

Manufacturer: Tradesman Pub
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0935831851

Termites and Borers: A Homeowner's Guide to Detection and Control

Average customer rating:

sure it's australian!
Not what I was hoping for.

Termites and Borers: A Homeowner's Guide to Detection and Control
Phillip Hadlington , and Ion Staunton
Manufacturer: UNSW Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Cleaning, Caretaking & Relocating | How-to & Home Improvements | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

Reference | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0868408271

Customer Reviews:

sure it's australian!.......2000-04-29

unlike a previous reviewer, I believe this book is a useful resource. Not EVERYONE lives in the US. Does every guide in the US preface it's title with "A US guide to....."? Of course not! A cursory look would have revealed to this "reviewer" that the book was published by NSW University press. Don't let the arrogance and ethnocentricity of the previous reviewer fool you, this book could save your house. There is a nice listing of tell tale signs of infestation, these are all most "professional exterminators" look for anyway! (save yourself the money......)

Not what I was hoping for........1999-06-21

The title of this book should be "Termites and Borers: An AUSTRALIAN Homeowner's Guide to Detection and Control" -- this book is for Australians. Furthermore, the book reaffirmed my belief that exterminators maintain a shroud of secrecy around the truths of their profession in order to propagate the public fear of insect infestation. The book did contain a few worthwhile facts, but not as many as can be found by typing "termite" into your favorite Internet search engine.

The Termite Report: A Guide for Homeowners and Home Buyers on Structural Pest Control

Average customer rating:

All you need to know

The Termite Report: A Guide for Homeowners and Home Buyers on Structural Pest Control
Donald V. Pearman
Manufacturer: Pear Pub Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

General | Reference | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0943743001

Amazon.com

The fact is, termites cause more structural damage to homes than fires, floods, tornadoes, and earthquakes combined. And they are sneaky about, too, often remaining completely out of site until serious damage is done and extremely expensive repairs are needed. Pearman has put together a comprehensive book on termites: how to know if termites are eating your house around you, how to identify which variety of termite you are dealing with, how to interpret a structural pest control report, how to get you money's worth when hiring contractors to deal with treatment and repairs, how to do many common repairs yourself, and how to protect your family from the dangers of pesticide treatments. The modest cost of this book can save you many thousands of dollars--not to mention preventing your house from collapsing around you before you even know there's a problem. --Mark Hetts

Customer Reviews:

All you need to know.......2004-04-29

Very detailed book on a subject
that even contractors know little
about. If you own real estate you
really should read this book.
Excellent photos as well.

Termite companies do not want
you to see this excellent work!

Termite Hill (Military History (Ibooks))
Average customer rating:

Telling it like it was

Great story, greatly told history

Tom Wilson has put me back in the cockpit.

Termite Hill (Military History (Ibooks))
Tom Wilson
Manufacturer: I Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
War | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Desert Fury

Black Serpent

Black Sky

Black Canyon

Once A Fighter Pilot

ASIN: 0743434811

Book Description

In 1966, the tide of the air war above North Vietnam is turning against the United States. F-105 Thunderchiefs, and the elite fighter pilots who fly them, are being slaughtered. To destroy the greatest array of sophisticated anti-aircraft weapons ever assembled, the Pentagon creates the Wild Weasel. The mission of Lt. Colonel Mack MacLendon?s 357th Tactical Fighter Squadron is to fly these technological demons straight into the teeth of North Vietnam?s deadly air defenses and destroy the SAMs and Soviet MiGs that have killed their friends, and now seek their death.

Customer Reviews:

Telling it like it was.......2005-07-25

Bear Wilson tells it like it was. The political restriction, the spineless generals, and the intense defenses. The professionalism of the pilots, the bears and all the maintenance troops are truly reflected in this book. If you read only one book about the air war over North Viet Nam, this should be the one.

Great story, greatly told history.......1998-01-20

As a kid I walked the flightlines at Wheelus, Spangdahlem and Nellis with my father. The desire to fly fighters was instilled so deeply as to be there still. Though my eyesight failed my dream, Tom Wilsons trilogy brought me as close as I will ever come. Through page after page the sights, sounds and smells returned to me as if it were only yesterday. I only wish my father had lived to enjoy what is not only a great story but a greatly told history.... Thank You Mr. Wilson,

Tom Wilson has put me back in the cockpit........1997-04-05

Tom Wilson's book takes me back to the sights, sounds and smells of Southeast Asia. He makes me feel the skin of an F-105 Thunderchief through my gloves and smell the familiar odor of the JP-4 fuel as I perform my pre-flight walk around inspection. I feel the drips of salty perspiration rolling down my face from under my helmet as I sit at the end of the runway waiting while the armorors pull the pins from my bombs. The tension builds. For those who haven't done it, this is the way to experience the daily life of those pilots who fought and died in the skies over North Vietnam. The ready comes home alive

Average customer rating:

Brother Termite
I must be a masochist
Obvious but still insightful social/political commentary.
Wonderful effort from a great slipstream author.
A tour de force of writing

Brother Termite
Patricia Anthony
Manufacturer: Ace Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Science Fiction | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Happy Policeman

ASIN: 0441001874

Customer Reviews:

Brother Termite.......2007-07-28

I like the book. I read it twice. Bought the book in 1993. I highly recommend the book. It combines the best of several genres.

I must be a masochist.......2007-03-26

Though I know by now that the endings of her books are gonna leave me dissatisfied, I still read them.

I read them because between the front cover and the ending there is always astonishingly good storytelling. This book was no exception. An alien invasion story told from the side of the aliens. It took me awhile to figure out that was what she was doing and then suddenly, just like that, it changed the entire way I was reading the book.

That angle made me think about what was happening more keenly than I was doing so up to that moment and actually made me go back and start again. Simply amazing writing. Again though, that ambiguous ending...

Still, I recommend it. You can still find her books here for pennies. At that price, don't be afraid to check her out. You may enjoy them tremendously.

Obvious but still insightful social/political commentary........2006-06-13

More of a political and cultural allegorical tale then a straight shooting Sci-fi novel. The book is not exactly about secretive plots and puppet regimes. It's in there, but it is more about the tale of an insider having a change of heart. A "yes alien" growing a conscious and challenging the caste systems and destiny of his race. Reverse Stockholm Syndrome....an Oskar Schindler kind of moment.

It is certainly above average and for the price WELL worth a look.

Wonderful effort from a great slipstream author. .......2006-01-08

In this surprising and polished work about politics and ethics, Patricia Anthony has written a book that deserves to be much more widely known and read than it appears to be. If you like smart fiction which plays with genre rules (rather than within them) then I suggest that you hurry and find a copy of Brother Termite.

Brother Termite is a story about Reen, an overworked alien bureaucrat in the White House who has to contend with seemingly every problem in the world-- hidden agendas from practially everybody, unreliable friends and lovers, and the annoying ghost of John F. Kennedy. The aliens and humans are caught in a mesh of competing personalities and ethical priorities-- a knotty problem which seems like it could lead to a failure of diplomacy...

Anthony has done a very clever thing and written a book which functions very well within both the Thriller and Science Fiction genres without ever actually losing its critical distance from either. It is a rare book that can be satisfying on stock levels (political whodunnit, alien anthropology) while still remaining a cool parody of the books that it is based on and the culture it comes from.

Do not read Anthony looking for your typical space opera. Her books are strongly character-based and ultimately more interested in human issues than xenobiology or battles. If you like the work of Mary Doria Russell, Bruce Sterling, or Philip K. Dick then you are probably on the right page for Anthony.

(I am sad to note, by the way, that her work seems to be out of print at the time of writing this review. I would stress that it is well worth the extra time and trouble to find copies while they are still available.)

A tour de force of writing.......2004-07-20

I read "God's Fire" and "Cold Allies" and enjoyed the author's quirky but brilliant style, especially the way aliens are so epehemeral, on the edge, non-human. In this book, a work that includes humor, mystery and science fiction, she ruminates on politics, culture, the future. The further one delves, the more one understands and admires the hero,(Reen-ja) and his travails.

The only word to describe character development (Ms. Anthony's forte) is awesome. The President journeys from pitiful rambling politician to tragic hero. Marian carefully plots the dangerous path that brings betrayal and heartbreak. Reen succumbs to that most human of emotions, love, though he cannot change his nature. A cosmic tragedy awaits the only two sentient races in the Galaxy - humans the termites. These humanoid aliens evolved from insects and as such are hive creatures with allegiance to their Brothers and Cousins. Their life is set at birth (an aside to much like the still-strong Indian caste system). Both termites and humans are losing the ability to reproduce. In the termites case, the vast majority are now born mindless workers.

The termites have undertaken to fuse two races into one that will stand the test of time. Experiments begin and children are born. We encounter murder, kidnapping, torture, investigations and surprises. The humor is always present - some of it slapstick but always with an edge. In fact the entire story has a shadowy nervousness as if one were waiting for the other shoe to drop. The commentary on rituals, customs,what it means to be human, are insightful and thought-provoking.

The incredible ending with Reen's final thoughts was not only tragic but triumphant, a classic case of martyrdom for our fellow man or in this case, fellow termite. The reader feels a deep sadness mixed with a sudden understanding as we grasp not only his shock but acceptance. The scene of his traitorous brother, attempting desperately to stop the sacrifice, remains with the reader long after the book was closed.

Average customer rating:

Termite Trouble: Brand New Readers

Manufacturer: Candlewick
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Humorous | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Ages 4-8 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

Fish and Frog: Brand New Readers
Eddie the Raccoon: Brand New Readers
Three Little Bears: Brand New Readers
Beep! Beep! It's Beeper!: Brand New Readers
Piggy and Dad: Brand New Readers

ASIN: 0763625728
Release Date: 2005-08-09

Book Description

Meet Termite, an adorable new character from the creator of Worm. This colorful critter has a voracious appetite that gets him in trouble — but doesn't keep him from having fun!

Brand New Readers are the most effective way to make reading a success — the very first time. Parents, teachers, and librarians everywhere report that they really work!

- Funny stories
- Pictures that make words easy to guess
- Eight-page stories that can be finished in one sitting, ensuring a satisfying reading experience
- Notes for parents and teachers to help them guide beginning readers

Unlike most reading programs, Brand New Readers are short, funny stories written by award-winning authors, full of bright, colorful artwork by illustrators kids know and love.

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books