p.64 We have all experienced, and used, resonance when playing on a swing as a child. Resonance is a way
of getting a large return for a relatively small effort, by making the effort at just the right time and pushing a system
the way it "wants" to go. The small amount of "pumping" that we do on the swing has to be timed just right to make the swing
travel through a bigger and bigger arc.
p.126 It all depends on the process known as catalysis, whereby the presence of a particular chemical substance
(the catalyst) encourages the presence of a particular chemical reaction to take place.
p.145 A complex system is really just a system that is made up of several simpler components interacting
with each other.
p.146-147 A single wheel - even a single gear-wheel - is not a complex object. But a racing bicycle, which
is essentially just a collection of wheels and levers, is a complex object... even though its individual component parts,
and the way they interact with one another, are easy to understand. And this highlights the other important feature
of complexity, as the term is used in science today - the importance of the way things interact with one another...
The simple pieces have to be connected together in the right way, so that they interact with one another to produce something
that is greater than the sum of the parts. And that's complexity, founded upon deep simplicity.
p.147 When scientists are confronted by complexity, their instinctive reaction is to try to understand
it by looking at the appropriate simpler components and the way they interact with one another. Then they hope to
find a simple law (or laws) that applies to the system they are studying.
p.207 The test of a good model is not how simple it is, but how well it provides insight into real
systems.
