As a political sociology of whites in the last years of apartheid in South Africa, this book provides an analysis of the social origins and social context of political attitudes among a sample of middle-class, English-speaking whites in selected suburbs in the city of Johannesburg, Gauteng Province. It reveals that such attitudes emanated in the context of acute and continuing political polarisation, principally between black and white, in the twilight of apartheid and before the first democratic elections. The book adds another dimension to the interpretation of class dynamics in the study of apartheid South Africa. In contrast to other studies that have concentrated on the working class, and on very restricted political and economic elites – which gives an incomplete picture of class dynamics – this book considers the impact of the middle classes in shaping the history of apartheid South Africa.

Have over a hundred years of brain research revealed all its secrets? This book is motivated by a realization that cortical structure and behavior can be explained by a synergy of seemingly different mathematical notions: global attractors, which define non-invertible neural firing rate dynamics, random graphs, which define connectivity of neural circuit, and prime numbers, which define the dimension and category of cortical operation. Quantum computation is shown to ratify the main conclusion of the book: loosely connected small neural circuits facilitate higher information storage and processing capacities than highly connected large circuits. While these essentially separate mathematical notions have not been commonly involved in the evolution of neuroscience, they are shown in this book to be strongly inter-related in the cortical arena. Furthermore, neurophysiological experiments, as well as observations of natural behavior and evidence found in medical testing of neurologically impaired patients, are shown to support, and to be supported by the mathematical findings.Related Link(s)

“Propulsive . . . The novel’s chaotic sprawl, black humor and madcap digressions make it a thrilling rejoinder to the tidy story arcs [of] most crime fiction.” —The Wall Street Journal Winner of the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Best Debut Novel Named a Best Book of the Year in the Wall Street Journal, Houston Chronicle, and Philadelphia City Paper A Naked Singularity tells the story of Casi, born to Colombian immigrants, who lives in Brooklyn and works in Manhattan as a public defender—one who, tellingly, has never lost a trial. Never. In the book, we watch what happens when his sense of justice and even his sense of self begin to crack—and how his world then slowly devolves. A huge, ambitious novel in the vein of DeLillo, Foster Wallace, Pynchon, and even Melville, it’s told in a distinct, frequently hilarious voice, with a striking human empathy at its center. Its panoramic reach takes readers through crime and courts, immigrant families and urban blight, media savagery and media satire, scatology and boxing, and even a breathless heist worthy of any crime novel. If Infinite Jest stuck a pin in the map of mid-90s culture and drew our trajectory from there, A Naked Singularity does the same for the feeling of surfeit, brokenness, and exhaustion that permeates our civic and cultural life today. In the opening sentence of William Gaddis’s A Frolic of His Own, a character sneers, “Justice? You get justice in the next world. In this world, you get the law.” A Naked Singularity reveals the extent of that gap, and lands firmly on the side of those who are forever getting the law. “A great American novel.” —Toronto Star

This book is a compilation of the review papers, expositions and some of the technical works of Leo Kadanoff, a theoretical physicist. The objective is to put together a group of not-too-technical writing in which he discusses some issues in condensed matter physics, hydrodynamics, applied mathematics and national policy.This expanded edition is divided into five sections. The first section contains review papers on hydrodynamics, condensed matter physics and field theory. Next is a selection of papers on scaling and universality, particularly as applied to phase changes. A change of pace is provided by a series of papers on the critical analysis of simulation models of urban economic and social development. The book concludes with a series of recent papers on complex patterns. Each major section has an introduction designed to tie the work together and to provide perspective on the subject matter.

This book is a compilation of the review papers, expositions and some of the technical works of Leo Kadanoff, a theoretical physicist. The objective is to put together a group of not-too-technical writing in which he discusses some issues in condensed matter physics, hydrodynamics, applied mathematics and national policy.The volume is divided into four sections. The first section contains review papers on hydrodynamics, condensed matter physics and field theory. Next is a selection of papers on scaling and universality, particularly as applied to phase changes. A change of pace is provided by a series of papers on the critical analysis of simulation models of urban economic and social development. The book concludes with a series of recent papers on turbulence and chaos. Each major section has an introduction designed to tie the work together and to provide perspective on the subject matter.

Any serious consideration of Asian American life forces us to reframe the way we talk about racism and antiracism. The current emphasis on racial identity obscures the political economic basis that makes racialized life in America legible. This is especially true when it comes to Asian Americans. This book reframes the conversation in terms of what has been called ""racial capitalism"" and utilizes two extended case studies to show how Asian Americans perpetuate and resist its political economy.