This unique volume is a collection of papers on various problems in astrophysics and cosmology — from planetary motion to the arrow of time — that are closely linked by the common spirit, technique and methodology of chaos.

This unique volume is a collection of papers on various problems in astrophysics and cosmology ? from planetary motion to the arrow of time ? that are closely linked by the common spirit, technique and methodology of chaos.

In Chaos and Cosmos, Heidi Scott integrates literary readings with contemporary ecological methods to investigate two essential and contrasting paradigms of nature that scientific ecology continues to debate: chaos and balance. Ecological literature of the Romantic and Victorian eras uses environmental chaos and the figure of the balanced microcosm as tropes essential to understanding natural patterns, and these eras were the first to reflect upon the ecological degradations of the Industrial Revolution. Chaos and Cosmos contends that the seed of imagination that would enable a scientist to study a lake as a microcosmic world at the formal, empirical level was sown by Romantic and Victorian poets who consciously drew a sphere around their perceptions in order to make sense of spots of time and place amid the globalizing modern world. This study’s interest goes beyond likening literary tropes to scientific aesthetics; it aims to theorize the interdisciplinary history of the concepts that underlie our scientific understanding of modern nature. Paradigmatic ecological ideas such as ecosystems, succession dynamics, punctuated equilibrium, and climate change are shown to have a literary foundation that preceded their status as theories in science. This book represents an elevation of the prospects of ecocriticism toward fully developed interdisciplinary potentials of literary ecology.

This book is based on some 50 outstanding papers published in international journals. The work emphasises the stochastic underpinning for space, time, interactions, and physical laws, and at the same time synthesises aspects of contemporary work, including the quark model and quantum superstrings. It covers general relativity, quantum mechanics, and other related disciplines. A comprehensive bibliography, and broad index are included.

In Pi (π) in Nature, Art, and Culture Marcel Danesi investigates the manifestations of π in science, nature, symbolism, and culture, arguing that these are intrinsically intertwined.

"I form light and create darkness; I make well-being and create calamity; I am the LORD, who does all these things." Isaiah 45:7 When God created the world, he brought perfect order out of what was "without form and void." But with human rebellion against God leading to God's curse, disorder was introduced into creation—disorder that we still see all around us today. Tracing the chaos to cosmos theme from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22, pastor-scholar Sidney Greidanus reveals how God is restoring his creation through Jesus Christ, who has already begun to shine light into the darkness and will one day return to bring peace, order, and restoration once and for all. With discussion questions at the end of each chapter and a fourteen-session reading plan, this book is ideal for small groups as well as individual study.