Chaos and Complexity in Astrophysics

Review of the hardback: 'There are countless books on dynamical systems, chaos, nonlinear dynamics, and so on, but this is the best for the all-round astrophysicist. It is not a straight-laced textbook or a how-to manual, but a good-natured guidebook to the literature. … you will end up much better educated, learning lots of facts and insights into a wide range of topics from Liapounov indicators to the theory of turbulence. … Without eschewing deep results, the book is as readable as a novel, and like any decent novel, deserves to be read from cover to cover …' The Observatory

• Part I. Dynamical Systems - General: 1. Introduction to Part I; 2. Astrophysical examples; 3. Mathematical properties of dynamical systems; 4. Properties of chaotic dynamics; 5. Analysis of time series; 6. Regular and irregular motion in Hamiltonian systems; 7. Extended systems - instabilities and patterns; Part II. Astrophysical Applications: 8. Introduction to Part II; 9. Planetary, stellar and galactic dynamics; 10. Irregularly variable astronomical point sources; 11. Complex spatial patterns in astrophysics; 12. Topics in astrophysical fluid dynamics; References; Index.