Evolutionary Dynamics

There is an interesting article in today's (July 31, 2007) New York Times Science Times section called "In Games, an Insight Into the Rules of Evolution." This article (click here for PDF version), by Carl Zimmer, is about Martin Nowak, and his research on cooperation, evolution and games. It reminded me that another possiblity for future readings is Martin's book Evolutionary Dynamics.

Sean Nee, writing about the book in Nature, said: "Martin Nowak is undeniably a great artist, working in the medium of mathematical biology...Nowak has seemingly effortlessly produced a stream of remarkable theoretical explorations into areas as diverse as the evolution of language, cooperation, cancer and the progression from HIV infection to AIDS. Evolutionary Dynamics, based on a course he gives at Harvard, is a comprehensive summary of this work...This is a unique book. It should be on the shelf of anyone who has, or thinks they might have, an interest in theoretical biology."

Steven Pinker says, "Martin Nowak has injected rigor and new ideas into the study of the evolution of language and cooperation. This book is brimming with insights and surprising findings and should be of interest to anyone who is curious about these topics."

Let's keep this in mind for a future IS group meeting.