This is the first book-length study of William James' style, arguing that the manner in which James writes The Principles of Psychology and The Varieties of Religious Experience serves to construct a chaotic world for his readers. The book examines the uses of chaos in western literature and philosophy and reaches two conclusions: that chaos may be "utter confusion and disorder," but, paradoxically, that disorder is communicated through some particular order -- in Joyce's term, all chaos is "chaosmos." Secondly, what is essential about chaos is what it does: nothing is inherently chaotic, rather chaos is used to contrast with or challenge something that is more structured or formed. Finally, the author presents an examination of the religious function of James' chaotic worldview as a disorientation which orients.

Chaos and fractals are new mathematical ideas that have revolutionized our view of the world. They have application in virtually every academic discipline. This book shows examples of the artistic beauty that can arise from very simple equations, and teaches the reader how to produce an endless variety of such patterns. Disk includes a full working version of the program.

Creating Chaos explores that dark side of statecraft, the covert use of political warfare in international relations - from its early practices during the Great Game between the British and Russian empires, through the Cold War era of ideological confrontation and forward into the hybrid political warfare of the 21st Century. Creating Chaos presents and illustrates the full body of covert and deniable political warfare practices, tracing their historical development and their use by both America and Russia throughout the Cold War and beyond. Using the most current information available, Hancock, a "veteran national security journalist" (Publishers Weekly) examines the evolution of political warfare tools and tactics in the era of the global Internet and ubiquitous social media, evaluating their effectiveness and illustrating the rapidly increasing levels of risk associated with these new and untested cyberwarfare tools. Virtually no books have studied actual political warfare beyond the Cold War, and only a handful have provided any insights into the new and rapidly evolving practices of the Russian Federation or of the political warfare aspect of NGOs or other surrogate actors. A companion volume to Shadow Warfare: The History of America's Undeclared Wars, Creating Chaos introduces the nature and history of political action practices, exploring a number of formerly secret American and Russian hybrid warfare and active measures projects in detail. With that background for context, it then extends those practices into the twenty-first century and contemporary events, evaluating wellestablished practices as they are being used with the newest tools of the global Internet and social media. It demonstrates the exponential increase in their effectiveness--and the equally exponential risk and consequences involved.

With the prevalence of disinformation geared to instill doubt rather than clarity, Creating Chaos Online unmasks disinformation when it attempts to pass as deliberation in the public sphere and distorts the democratic processes. Asta Zelenkauskaitė finds that repeated tropes justifying Russian trolling were found to circulate across not only all analyzed media platforms’ comments but also across two analyzed sociopolitical contexts suggesting the orchestrated efforts behind messaging. Through a dystopian vision of publics that are expected to navigate in the sea of uncertain both authentic and orchestrated content, pushed by human and nonhuman actors, Creating Chaos Online offers a concept of post-publics. The idea of post-publics is reflected within the continuum of treatment of public, counter public, and anti-public. This book argues that affect-instilled arguments used in public deliberation in times of uncertainty, along with whataboutism constitute a playbook for chaos online.

Hermann Gunkel was a scholar in the generation of the origins of Assyriology, the spectacular discovery by George Smith of fragments of the “Chaldean Genesis,” and the Babel-Bibel debate. Gunkel’s thesis, inspired by materials supplied to him by the Assyriologist Heinrich Zimmern, was to take the Chaoskampf motif of Revelation as an event that would not only occur at the end of the world but had already happened at the beginning, before Creation. In other words, in this theory, one imagines God in Genesis 1 as first having battled Rahab, Leviathan, and Yam (the forces of Chaos) in a grand battle, and only then beginning to create. The problem with Gunkel’s theory is that it did not simply identify common elements in the mythologies of the ancient Near East but imposed upon them a structure dictating the relationships between the elements, a structure that was based on inadequate knowledge and a forced interpretation of his sources. On the other hand, one is not entitled to insist that there was no cultural conversation among peoples who spent the better part of several millennia trading with, fighting, and conquering one another. Creation and Chaos attempts to address some of these issues. The contributions are organized into five sections that address various aspects of the issues raised by Gunekl’s theories.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A clear-eyed account of learning how to lead in a chaotic world, by General Jim Mattis—the former Secretary of Defense and one of the most formidable strategic thinkers of our time—and Bing West, a former assistant secretary of defense and combat Marine. “A four-star general’s five-star memoir.”—The Wall Street Journal Call Sign Chaos is the account of Jim Mattis’s storied career, from wide-ranging leadership roles in three wars to ultimately commanding a quarter of a million troops across the Middle East. Along the way, Mattis recounts his foundational experiences as a leader, extracting the lessons he has learned about the nature of warfighting and peacemaking, the importance of allies, and the strategic dilemmas—and short-sighted thinking—now facing our nation. He makes it clear why America must return to a strategic footing so as not to continue winning battles but fighting inconclusive wars. Mattis divides his book into three parts: Direct Leadership, Executive Leadership, and Strategic Leadership. In the first part, Mattis recalls his early experiences leading Marines into battle, when he knew his troops as well as his own brothers. In the second part, he explores what it means to command thousands of troops and how to adapt your leadership style to ensure your intent is understood by your most junior troops so that they can own their mission. In the third part, Mattis describes the challenges and techniques of leadership at the strategic level, where military leaders reconcile war’s grim realities with political leaders’ human aspirations, where complexity reigns and the consequences of imprudence are severe, even catastrophic. Call Sign Chaos is a memoir of a life of warfighting and lifelong learning, following along as Mattis rises from Marine recruit to four-star general. It is a journey about learning to lead and a story about how he, through constant study and action, developed a unique leadership philosophy, one relevant to us all.

Gideon Stryker hates high school and everything that comes with it. As a male dancer at a school filled with students whose favorite past time is to make his life as miserable as possible, his plan for senior year is simple: lay low, graduate, and get the hell out. Elliott Oakley wasn't looking for friends, a relationship, or anything in between after his normal life went from tolerable to unbearable and he made the necessary choice to move from Iowa to North Carolina. But this is life. And plans change. They were best friends first but Gideon and Elliott soon form a connection that is too powerful to deny. They fall hard for each other, creating chaos and ignoring judgment wherever they go. Suddenly, high school seems manageable, life seems bearable, and the plans they were so set on following get tossed out the window. They make a new plan. One that ends with them together. But their plan gets a giant wedge tossed into it the moment Elliott's past makes the journey from Iowa all the way to North Carolina, creating more chaos than they ever thought possible.