Sync

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

By: Steven Strogatz

Narrated by: Kevin T. Collins

Length: 13 hrs and 58 mins

Publisher's summary

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.

Don't like math, but this book gave me new lenses

Would you listen to Sync again? Why?

Probably not because I am reading other books, but if I wanted motivation on mathematical research of biological oscillators and digging deeper into the hidden world of conscious and math, I would have this on replay. GREAT FINISHING PARAGRAPH.

What other book might you compare Sync to and why?

First book I've read of it's kind

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Made me have an "oh sh*t" moment when he highlighted the fact that our physical bodies are just blobs of protein and chemicals with a conscious inside that we have yet to figure out how it even got there.

Any additional comments?

Worth the read and time to figure out what the book is about.

Fascinating topic - Strogatz de-math's well

Any additional comments?

Kevin T Collins did a good job of narrating the book, except for one word used in multiple places: capacitors. They are pronounced as they are spelled, not "capacitators". Mr Collins added an extra "TA" in there that was distracting. To an electrical engineer, it was like nails on a chalkboard.

Good book, terrible reading

Any additional comments?

The reading of this book is truly terrible. The reader sounds like he is telling a ghost story, or perhaps having some kind of stomach spasm? ... for the whole book. He speaks absurdly slowly, with ridiculous annunciation, and a very breathy, tense voice. It's awful. I had to bump it up to 1.5x just to tolerate it.

The actual content of this book is quite good! I found parts to be too high-level and wanted a lot more detail, but Strogatz did explicitly state his intention to give a nontechnical overview of the topic, which he accomplished. It's interesting, covers many varied topics, and keeps a coherent scientific narrative. Plus added personal anecdotes about being a professional science researcher.

Recommended as a print book ... not recommended as an audiobook unless you like 1.5x speed.

Various Scientific Subjects Under Sync Umbrella

Interesting book covering various ideas, phenomenon & science under umbrella of sync. I like the author touch that added personal information about process of producing knowledge and individuals who are researching on various subject. You need to listen it with 1.25x speed as the original slow narration speed might feel a little bit boring.

Fascinating

Really enjoyed both the text and the performance: the reader/listener is taken on a fascinating tour of phenomena dominated by non linear dynamics and synchronisation.