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Scale

Geoffrey West

Geoffrey West's research centres on a quest to find unifying principles and patterns connecting everything, from cells and ecosystems to cities, social networks and businesses.

Why do organisms and ecosystems scale with size in a remarkably universal and systematic fashion?

Is there a maximum size of cities? Of animals and plants? What about companies?

Can scale show us how to create a more sustainable future?

By applying the rigour of physics to questions of biology, visionary physicist Geoffrey West found that despite the riotous diversity in the sizes of mammals, they are all, to a large degree, scaled versions of each other. This speaks to everything from how long we can expect to live to how many hours of sleep we need. He then made the even bolder move of exploring his work's applicability to cities and to the business world. These investigations have led to powerful insights about the elemental natural laws that bind us together in profound ways, and how all complex systems are dancing to the same simple tune, however diverse and unrelated they may seem.

  • Classification : Popular Science
  • Pub Date : MAY 3, 2018
  • Imprint : Weidenfeld & Nicolson
  • Page Extent : 496
  • Binding : PB
  • ISBN : 9781780225593
  • Price : INR 799
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Geoffrey West

Geoffrey West is a British theoretical physicist and served as the President of the Santa Fe Institute from 2005 to 2009. Prior to joining the Santa Fe Institute as a Distinguished Professor in 2003 he was the leader and founder of the high energy physics group at Los Alamos National Laboratory. He still works at the SFI researching biological power laws. West has been cited and admired in the works of other writers and thinkers and has made many popular online appearances on TED Pop-Tech and Google Talks. One of TIME magazine's '100 Most Influential People in the World' his research and ideas have been discussed in media all over the world.
www.ted.com/speakers/geoffrey_west

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