PUBLISHED AND FORTHCOMING BOOKS

Orden y Caos en Sistemas Complejos
Ricard V. Sole and Susanna C. Manrubia, Politex, UPC, 1996

A technical, 600-pages introduction to complex systems, with two differentiated parts, the first involving general methods and the second applications. Methods include nonlinear systems, stability and bifurcations, chaotic dynamics, cellular automata and coupled map lattices, turing patterns and analysis of time series. Applications involve virus dynamics, ecological systems, evolution and extinction, swarm intelligence, neuroscience, random genetic networks and hamiltonian dynamical systems. Written in spanish.

Modelling Spatiotemporal Dynamics in Ecology
Jordi Bascompte and Ricard V. Sole (eds), Springer-Verlag, 1998

Throughout its history, ecology has largely been a descriptive science. Scientists are in need of a theoretical framework that will assist in the understanding of observed patterns, and will serve as a predictive tool. Since ecological systems are dynamic and spatially extended, it is particularly important to understand the processes underlying spatiotemporal patterns. This book reviews one of the newest and most important areas of theoretical ecology: the study of spatiotemporal dynamics by means of a spatially explicit approximation that allows the investigation of the effects of real space. Foreword by Lord Robert May.

Signs of Life: How Complexity Pervades Biology
Ricard V. Sole and Brian Goodwin, Basic Books (New York, 2001)
Signs of life is an introduction to complexity under the perspective of nonlinear phenomena, phase transitions and emergence. It is a popular science book, although an advanced one, with technical boxes.
From the publisher: Deep down, we all know that living things are profoundly weird. Santa Fe Institute scientists Ricard Solé and Brian Goodwin show us the truth in Signs of Life: How Complexity Pervades Biology. Chaos theory and the life sciences are a natural combination, but it's still a wonder how fresh and intuitive the material is in their able hands. Copiously illustrated with drawings, tables, and photographs enriching the text, the book will appeal to all sophisticated readers with an interest in the larger themes of biology--major players such as evolution, development, and inheritance.
Book reviews in: American Scientist ; Cell ; Complexity

Self-organization in Complex Ecosystems
Ricard V. Sole and Jordi Bascompte,
Princeton U. Press (Monographs in Population Biology; to appear 2005)

From the publisher: Can physics be an appropriate framework for the understanding of ecological science? Most ecologists would probably agree that there is little relation between the complexity of natural ecosystems and the simplicity of any example derived from Newtonian physics. Though ecologists have long been interested in concepts originally developed by statistical physicists and later applied to explain everything from why stock markets crash to why rivers develop particular branching patterns, applying such concepts to ecosystems has remained a challenge.

Self-Organization in Complex Ecosystems is the first book to clearly synthesize what we have learned about the usefulness of tools from statistical physics in ecology. Ricard Solé and Jordi Bascompte provide a comprehensive introduction to complex systems theory, and ask: do universal laws shape the structure of ecosystems, at least at some scales? They offer the most compelling array of theoretical evidence to date of the potential of nonlinear ecological interactions to generate nonrandom, self-organized patterns at all levels.

Redes complejas: del genoma a Internet
Ricard V. Sole,
Tusquets (Metatemas, Barcelona 2009)

Xarxes complexes: del genoma a Internet
Ricard V. Sole,
Edicions 62 (Empuries, Barcelona 2009)

Phase transitions
Ricard V. Sole,
Princeton U. Press, Princeton (2011)

From the publisher: Phase transitions--changes between different states of organization in a complex system--have long helped to explain physics concepts, such as why water freezes into a solid or boils to become a gas. How might phase transitions shed light on important problems in biological and ecological complex systems? Exploring the origins and implications of sudden changes in nature and society, Phase Transitions examines different dynamical behaviors in a broad range of complex systems. Using a compelling set of examples, from gene networks and ant colonies to human language and the degradation of diverse ecosystems, the book illustrates the power of simple models to reveal how phase transitions occur.
Written at an undergraduate mathematical level, this book provides the essential theoretical tools and foundations required to develop basic models to explain collective phase transitions for a wide variety of ecosystems.

TO APPEAR

Vida real, vida artificial
Ricard V. Sole
Tusquets, Metatemas (hope 2011)

Exploring complex networks
Sergi Valverde and Ricard V. Sole
Princeton U. Press (hope 2011)

Evolving Webs
Ricard V. Sole, Sergi Valverde, Jose Montoya and Bernat Corominas (in preparation)
Princeton U. Press (Complex Systems Series), in preparation