Evolutionary Dynamics: Exploring the Equations of Life

There are so many good things to say about this book I think I will begin with my misgivings!Not a fault of the book, but before reading this you may want to brush up on your math, especially on systems of differential equations and matrix algebra. Martin Nowak is a fluent and elegant writer and this extends to his math, which (for me anyway) flows wonderfully. But I don't spend enough time on math so I had to slow myself down as I read, think carefully and test my understanding.There is very little 'biology' in this book. It is mostly on the theoretical structures that underlie evolution. I prefer my evolution with rather more biology. I hope someone will write another book (preferably many books) that goes deeper into applying these ideas to living systems (yes, the chapter on HIV was compelling and the chapter on cancer interesting).I was disappointed by the Further Reading section. It did not provide enough context about the books mentioned or thread them together into a story. In fact, it seemed a bit rushed - and I had set aside some time to read it carefully.On to the books strengths.This is one of the best examples of expository prose I have read in a long time. Martin Nowak can make complex ideas clear and not waste a lot of words doing so. Anyone writing about complex topics where it is important to link the math and ideas could benefit from studying this book. As an example, the description of the Chomsky hierarchies of formal languages is the best I have read.The presentation of the key equations is exemplary. The components of the equation are all labeled and explained. All books that need to explain equations should take this approach. I plan to copy the quasispecies equation explanation and put it up above my desk.In general, the quality of the graphics is excellent and they really add to the presentation of the ideas. This is not a book for the Kindle or iPad. Get the physical thing (I plan to buy a couple of extra copies for friends and colleagues).And the content. Evolutionary Dynamics leads the reader through the past two decades work on uncovering the mathematical framework for evolutionary processes. It provides a compelling (I will use this word too often in this review) introduction to evolution and how to formalize it. A good treatment on fitness landscapes (though this is one of the weaker sections of the book - only in cpmparison with the rest of the book though, as it is still excellent).Good coverage of standard topics like evolutionary games, with a very orderly presentation in which understanding is built up from games in infinite populations to games in finite populations with a great treatment of the classic prisoner's dilemma game and an explanation of why each strategy works. I had not thought through the impact of errors on the popular Tit for Tat or Forgiving Tit for Tat. The implications of this are far reaching. Then there are the chapters on evolutionary graph theory and spatial games. Wow. These alone will open wide fields for future research. Absolutely necessary reading. The book concludes with good applications of evolutionary dynamics to HIV, virulence and parasites and cancer. The final chapter on languages evolution is powerful and the insight into coherence threshold and how it determines the maximum size of a search space (with the universal grammar as the search space for language learning) can be applied in many other fields.Speaking of other fields, I believe that the approach taken in this book to evolutionary dynamics will eventually replace much of what is now called economics. Economic activity is not about finding equilibriums in the allocation of scarce resources. It is about the competition of replicators in dynamic fitness space. Organizations are a form of replicator. In fact may products are also replicators and trends towards modular and configurable systems, collaborative design, just in time production, local production, etc. will make them more so. This book provides some of the formal tools needed to think about these questions. As an example, the model of value provided by Tom Nagle see The Strategy and Tactics of Pricing (5th Edition)when combined with cost to serve provides a definition of advantage which can be interpreted as fitness. The system of features-benefits-value drivers with the value driver equations and data can be modeled using the concepts from von Neuman of reproduction and replication (see von Neuman's The Theory of Self-Reproducing Automata - why isn't this book in print and in wide circulation?). There are other obvious applications. I would love to see a blend (mashup if you prefer) of evolutionary dynamics and parametric design (see Elements of Parametric Design, or even music composed using some of these equations ...I will reread this book soon and expect to reference it many times. And I hope a soft cover edition at a lower price comes out so that I can give it to many people.

I'm a computer programmer with an intererst in evolutionary programming, and I've written my share of implementations. Each turned out to sport unsightly warts with hair. Nowak's book, however, is immaculate. No hair is to be found in this book, no warts. No cruft either.Nowak's presentations are paragons of lucidity. The illustrations are minor triumphs of graphical communication. And the whole book is tied together around his rigorous model. Nowak writes better than anyone else I have read on such subjects. If there is justice in textbook heaven, Nowak has written an immortal-to-be. Don't miss it

Too much like a text book.

A very readable introduction to the mathematics of evolution and biology. A good knowledge of mathematics is assumed. The book provides a very different and interesting interpretation of evolution and is well worth buying.

Being a Mathematical Educator , I have always been intrigued with how Mathematics shows up in the most interesting places.....thus I am surprised as well as interested in how Mathematics can justify the process of Evolution as shown by Mr. Nowak....I highly recommend this text for anyone interested in Evolution and / or the Application of Mathematics in everyday life (excuse the pun ).

I got interested in mathematical theories of evolution after reading this book, though at times it does read as the collected works of Martin Nowak. There are some nice examples to use in an undergrad math biology class (HIV evolution, etc). Nice, easy to follow derivations of the equations.

Along with his book Supercooperators, this book shows that there is a reason for the dynamics we see every day in life. In some sense, this is the Bible that is true. We have been tuned by the lives lived before we were born.

In a way this book is one of the very best books in the history of the world, in a way that disappoints however.I like the author. I like the topic. I buy into the overall thesis (that models of evolving systems will largely replace nearly all of our prior mathematic models). However, this book and the type of modeling it promotes, promotes understanding of modeling systems much much much more than it promotes understanding of nature, real natural selection in extant biological systems, and the space of artificial natural selection systems that computation systems (a la Wolfram's computational equivalent one dimensional cellular automata systems) present.To pick some fun topics, some fun things in the world that evolve and model them using 8 different kinds of simple math, is fun---but is it serious? Yes an AIDS attribute was correctly predicted by a model in 1990. We get some predictions. But do we lose anything from happenstance bits modeled variously? I think we lose tremendously and the fate of economics, recently, should be to Prof. Nowak, a warning--I hope he takes it to heart.I feel the book and its milieu is dangerous---to development of knowledge, in EXACTLY that same way economics was never knowledge of economies merely merely merely knowledge of certain fun models made fun by simplifying all the reality interesting stuffs, recalcitrant to our equation formalisms, out, leaving bland rather obvious results. This book is a tour de force of expression clarity--give Prof. Nowak credit for KNOWING his modeling completely enough to be able to completely exposit it clearly wiithout fuzziness. This man knows modeling but but but but (just a mutation for fun fourth) that is not knowing nature, reality, and biologic natural selection.The genius of the man and the book is really specific and quite pure and limited---turning some evolutionary questions and situation into models of a clear distinct well exposited type. However it is that earliest step---the question FINDING step in being creative---where this author and book pull their punches quite dangerously. I remember Paul Samuelson in Econ 14,01 my freshman year at MIT---in the first 3 weeks he sped through a host of quite obvious simple assumptions that were hugely WRONG, hugely DISHONEST intellectually, and HUGELY costly--a cover story for Harvard MBA greeds was all they amounted to, proved by 2008 and 2009. This author and book are the intellectual equivalent of that mystifying first set of axiom errors that made econ a cover story decades later--this author and book are the professional and impressive beginnings of such a cover story fate for evolutionary modeling of systems.To fix this whole project and book, MUCH more attention (a nother mutation for fun) has to be paid up front, to the earliest step in each chapter, the first half of each first sentence---we have to direct attention (and modeling effort) at the profound questions, not the easy and silly and shallow questions as is done in this book throughout.Many of the models presented, and this is a neurotic point to make, are better done with true topology models as Ken Arrow and others did with the concluding steps of General Equilibrium Theory in economics---I would like to read a Topology-filled modeling book by this author someday soon. I also would like to see Nowak married to Michod for five years without divorce to see what they mutually could force each other's brains into. Their combination would produce stupendous greatness of not mere models but of understanding and models directed at profoundest parts of natural selection (well laid out in Michod's latest stuff).I believe in terms of clear exposition (of a quite limited treatment of its topics) this book is hard to beat, perhaps only Wolfrom's treatment in A New Kind of Science is better. However, Wolfram aimed at better deeper more difficult to fathom but more rewarding to fathom questions. This book skims the surface---impressive but not all that useful.I believe, truly, half of my current friends, could get any set of top 30 percentile high school students in the world to build equivalent models of the same evolving systems this book builds models of, with just a bit of coaching. Modeling is fun, impresses people naively ignorant of mathematics, but in the end it is easy and a trick of hiding one's assumptions well, a kind of assumption magic trick, misdirect by the variable assignment statements from the simplifying assumptions being inserted.Harvard loves modeling that is how they (HARVARD MBAs) ruined the world's economy (we have yet to pay for their wealth) the last 3 years. I hate to see that sickness in Harvard culture and personal character being repeated in biology realms. Nowak is nowhere near the subness of MBA subculture so I am not talking about him here at all, rather, I fear his modeling is beginning to do to natural selection what economics did to economies--become a cover story for evil master's degree grads.

Réal master pièce!

Me gusta este libro porque contiene todo lo necesario para cualquiera que necesite una introducción y un recorrido amplio por la dinámica evolutiva. En mi caso ha sido muy útil para una de las asignaturas de el maáster que estoy cursando (Máster en ingeniería de sistemas y control).Cómodo de leer con un formato que hace que sea muy dinámico y resulte fácil avanzar sobre el texto. Además tienen un precio bastante asequible.

重鎮Ｎｏｗａｋさんが、進化に関わる数理モデルの数々（古典的なモデルからの最近のものまで。）を、遺伝子、ウイルス、癌などに見られる「進化」現象に当てはめたりしつつ、基礎の基礎から丁寧に解説してくれています。最後の方の章では、言語の進化についても（！）言及あり。進化はいきものの特権ではなく、様々な所に現れる普遍的な現象であることを再確認。＊＊＊数式が多く出てくるものの、説明文がとてもわかりやすく、エッセンスをシンプルに表現した図が必要に応じて示されるので、苦手な自分でも殆どストレスとはなりませんでした。各章のメインテーマとなる内容（全てこの分野における一線級の仕事）が、ほぼ全て著者の手になるものということが驚き。巌佐庸先生による日本語訳もでているようです。

Explica claramente los conceptos matematicos tras la temática del libro sin volverte loco con complejas demostraciones matemáticas. Una buena compra.

I'd just like to add one remark to the eulogy of Dr. Karl Sigmund: The math in this book is not - as he claims - reduced to the bare minimum. In fact, it's at the very center of the book. Formulas, equations and graphs on every page, and not the kind of stuff you'd expect in a text for ordinary laypeople interested in evolution and biology. Therefore, if you have not majored in math, do not buy this book !