Volume 25, Number 10 · June 15, 1978
The Charms of Catastrophe
By Martin Gardner
Structural Stability and Morphogenesis: An Outline of a General Theory of Models
by René Thom, translated by D.H. Fowler, with a foreword by C.H. Waddington
Benjamin/Cummings Publishing Co., 348 pp., $16.50 (paper)
Catastrophe Theory: Selected Papers 1972-1977
by E.C. Zeeman
Addison-Wesley, 674 pp., $14.50 (paper)
Catastrophe Theory
by Alexander Woodcock, by Monte Davis
Dutton, 192 pp., $9.95
Catastrophe Theory and Its Applications
by Tim Poston, by Ian Stewart
Fearon-Pitman Publishers, 491 pp., $49.75
'All things,' said Charles Peirce, 'swim in continua.' At what wave length does blue become green? When does a child become a grown-up? Are viruses alive? Do cows think? It is also obvious that there are discrete 'things' that swim in these spectrums, and sometimes jump from one part of a spectrum to another. Day fades into night, but a flicked switch produces instant darkness. One can imagine a hippopotamus changing by imperceptible degrees into a violet, but, as Charles Fort once asked, who would send a lady a bouquet of hippopotami?
Review, 3709 words
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