I bought Chaos: A Very Short Introduction in New Zealand, because firstly I am interested in chaos theory and secondly it would fit in my coat pocket. I read it in a single sitting on the return flight from Wellington to Melbourne: this says the book is readable and interesting, because I usually fall asleep on planes. That said I was not satified. It was really a book about mathematical chaos in layman's terms, and spent a good deal of time dealing with forecasting weather and climate. I particularly liked the quote - "Climate is what you expect. Weather is what you get". Unfortunately I expected a general discussion on chaos theory, but got a specific discourse on modelling and forecasting.

My feeling is the book is incomplete. Perhaps it is the format, which I quite like, but I suspect it has more to do with the author's interests. Personally I think the James Gleick's Chaos: Making a New Science , which was first published in 1987, is a better introduction. I'm sure there are others. I also found many of the illustrations to be of very poor quality. I appreciate it is difficult in a book of this size to provide intricate illustrations, but surely a colour image or two of a fractual is possible.

Altogether I enjoyed reading this book, because it did apply chaos theory to the real world with real examples. At $20 NZ it was excellent value for money and was a happy companion while travelling. It is of interest to anyone who is looking for a very short account on fundamental problems and principles in chaos theory. All in all I would rate it two and a half out of five. Why? Because telling the complete story matters!

Regards Graham