Most of us have had the experience of running into a friend of a friend far away from home – and feeling that the world is somehow smaller than it should be. We usually write off such unlikely encounters as coincidence, even though it seems to happen with uncanny frequency. According to a handful of physicists at Los Alamos and other cutting-edge research labs around the world, it turns out that this ‘small-world’ phenomenon is no coincidence at all. Rather, it is a manifestation of a hidden and powerful design that binds the world together. 
In SMALL WORLD, Mark Buchanan tells the story of how a stunning discovery in complexity science is revolutionising the way we understand networks. The Internet, the brain, power-grids and the global economy are all networks that seem to have evolved a ‘small-world’ geometry – with properties independent of the nature of the things themselves. 
SMALL WORLD argues that this underlying pattern may be one of nature’s greatest design tricks, and the book shows us – concisely and engagingly – how scientists are putting this new insight to work. The discovery promises to change the way we see the web of relationships that weaves our lives together. What’s more, it may well provide the foundation for a new kind of physics that searches for the laws not of substance, but of pure form.

Small World : Uncovering Nature's Hidden Networks

Science & Math

Buchanan, Mark

Biological Sciences

Weidenfeld&Nicolson

“Abide in me,” Jesus tells us, “and you will bear much fruit.” Yet too often we forget that fruit needs different seasons in order to grow. We measure our spiritual maturity by how much we do rather than how we are responding to our current spiritual season.In Spiritual Rhythm, Mark Buchanan replaces our spirituality of busyness with a spirituality of abiding. Sometimes we are busy, sometimes still, sometimes pushing with all we’ve got, sometimes waiting. This model of the spiritual life measures and produces growth by asking: Are we living in rhythm with the season we are in? With the lyrical writing for which he is known, Mark invites us to respond to every season of the heart, whether we are flourishing and fruitful, stark and dismal, or cool and windy. In comparing spiritual rhythms to the seasons of the year, he shows us what to expect from each season and how embracing the seasons causes our spiritual lives to prosper. As he draws on the powerful words of Scripture, Mark explores what activities are suitable or necessary in each season―and what activities are useless or even harmful in that season.Throughout the book, Mark weaves together stories of young and old, men and women, families, couples, and individuals who are in or have been through a particular season of the heart. As Mark writes, “I pray that this book meets you in whatever season you’re in, and prepares you for whatever seasons await. I pray that it helps you find your voice, your stride, your rhythm, in season or out. Mostly, I pray that you, with or without my help, find Christ wherever you are. And that, even more, you discover that wherever you are, he’s found you.”

Spiritual Rhythm: Being with Jesus Every Season of Your Soul

Religion & Spirituality

Christian Books & Bibles

Zondervan

Drawing on Jesus's example of walking, bestselling author Mark Buchanan explores one of the oldest spiritual practices of our faith.&nbsp; What happens when we literally walk out our Christian life We discover the joy of traveling at the speed of our soul.&nbsp; We often act as if faith is only about the mind. But what about our bodies What does our physical being have to do with our spiritual life When the Bible exhorts us to walk in the light, or walk by faith, or walk in truth, it means these things literally as much as figuratively. The Christian faith always involves walking out, as again and again we find the holy in the ordinary.&nbsp; "Come, follow me," Jesus said, and then he was off. The most obvious thing about Jesus's method of discipleship, in fact, is that he walked and invited others to walk with him. Jesus is always "on the way," "arriving," "leaving," "approaching," "coming upon." It's in the walking that his disciples are taught, formed, tested, empowered, and released.&nbsp; Part theology, part history, part field guide, God Speed explores walking as spiritual formation, walking as healing, walking as exercise, walking as prayer, walking as pilgrimage, suffering, friendship, and attentiveness. It is a book about being alongside the God who, incarnate in Jesus, turns to us as he passes by--always on foot--and says simply, "Come, follow me." With practical insight and biblical reflections told in his distinct voice, Buchanan provides specific walking exercises so you can immediately implement the practice of going "God speed." Whether you are walking around the neighborhood or hiking in the mountains, walking offers the potential to awaken your life with Christ as it revives body and soul.

God Walk: Moving at the Speed of Your Soul

Health, Fitness & Dieting

Exercise & Fitness

Your Church Is Too Safe: Why Following Christ Turns the World Upside-Down

“These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also.” – Acts 17:6 That was the startled cry, circa 50 AD, from a hastily assembled mob in Thessalonica. Paul and Silas had been arrested for preaching the gospel. They were viewed as revolutionaries, dangerous men who were upsetting the status quo and inciting riots. But they were just two ordinary men, walking in the power of God, sharing a simple message of his love and grace. It’s been a while since we’ve seen the likes of this. If you ever find church boring or you believe something is missing from our churches today, you aren’t alone. Mark Buchanan believes there is a visible gap between the life Jesus offered to us and the life we’re living, between the church Jesus envisioned and the church we see today. When Jesus announced that the Kingdom was at hand, this can’t be what he meant. Instead of counting everything loss to be found in Christ, we’ve made it our priority to be safe instead of dangerous, nice instead of holy. Author and pastor Mark Buchanan believes that we need to recover a simple idea: that God meant his church to be both good news and bad news, an aroma and a stench – a disruptive force to whoever or whatever opposes the Kingdom of God and a healing, liberating power to those who seek it.

Presents the fundamental principles of "small worlds" theory, highlighting groundbreaking research, its benefits and applications to diverse problems, and the logic behind the "six degrees of separation." 40,000 first printing.

Nexus: Small Worlds and the Groundbreaking Science of Networks

Computers & Technology

Networking & Cloud Computing

W.W. Norton & Co., Inc.

As Chaos explained the science of disorder, Nexus reveals the new science of connection and the odd logic of six degrees of separation." If you ever wanted to know how many links connect you and the Pope, or why when the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank sneezes the global economy catches cold, read this book," writes John L. Casti (Santa Fe Institute). This "cogent and engaging" (Nature) work presents the fundamental principles of the emerging field of "small-worlds" theory? the idea that a hidden pattern is the key to how networks interact and exchange information, whether that network is the information highway or the firing of neurons in the brain. Mathematicians, physicists, computer scientists, and social scientists are working to decipher this complex organizational system, for it may yield a blueprint of dynamic interactions within our physical as well as social worlds. Highlighting groundbreaking research behind network theory, "Mark Buchanan's graceful, lucid, nontechnical and entertaining prose" (Mark Granovetter) documents the mounting support among various disciplines for the small-worlds idea and demonstrates its practical applications to diverse problems? from the volatile global economy or the Human Genome Project to the spread of infectious disease or ecological damage. Nexus is an exciting introduction to the hidden geometry that weaves our lives so inextricably together.

Physics

W.W.Norton&Company

Why do catastrophes happen? What sets off earthquakes, for example? What about mass extinctions of species? The outbreak of major wars? Massive traffic jams that seem to appear out of nowhere? Why does the stock market periodically suffer dramatic crashes? Why do some forest fires become superheated infernos that rage totally out of control? Experts have never been able to explain the causes of any of these disasters. Now scientists have discovered that these seemingly unrelated cataclysms, both natural and human, almost certainly all happen for one fundamental reason. More than that, there is not and never will be any way to predict them. Critically acclaimed science journalist Mark Buchanan tells the fascinating story of the discovery that there is a natural structure of instability woven into the fabric of our world. From humble beginnings studying the physics of sandpiles, scientists have learned that an astonishing range of things–Earth’s crust, cars on a highway, the market for stocks, and the tightly woven networks of human society–have a natural tendency to organize themselves into what’s called the “critical state,” in which they are poised on what Buchanan describes as the “knife-edge of instability.” The more places scientists have looked for the critical state, the more places they’ve found it, and some believe that the pervasiveness of instability must now be seen as a fundamental feature of our world. Ubiquity is packed with stories of real-life catastrophes, such as the huge earthquake that in 1995 hit Kobe, Japan, killing 5,000 people; the forest fires that ravaged Yellowstone National Park in 1988; the stock market crash of 1987; the mass extinction that killed off the dinosaurs; and the outbreak of World War I. Combining literary flair with scientific rigor, Buchanan introduces the researchers who have pieced together the evidence of the critical state, explaining their ingenious work and unexpected insights in beautifully lucid prose. At the dawn of this new century, Buchanan reveals, we are witnessing the emergence of an extraordinarily powerful new field of science that will help us comprehend the bewildering and unruly rhythms that dominate our lives and may even lead to a true science of the dynamics of human culture and history.

Ubiquity: The Science of History . . . or Why the World Is Simpler Than We Think

Crown

Critically acclaimed science journalist, Mark Buchanan tells the fascinating story of the discovery that there is a natural structure of instability woven into the fabric of our world, which explains why catastrophes-- both natural and human-- happen. Scientists have recently discovered a new law of nature and its footprints are virtually everywhere-- in the spread of forest fires, mass extinctions, traffic jams, earthquakes, stock-market fluctuations, the rise and fall of nations, and even trends in fashion, music and art. Wherever we look, the world is modelled on a simple template: like a steep pile of sand, it is poised on the brink of instability, with avalanches-- in events, ideas or whatever-- following a universal pattern of change. This remarkable discovery heralds what Mark Buchanan calls the new science of 'ubiquity', a science whose secret lies in the stuff of the everyday world. Combining literary flair with scientific rigour, this enthralling book documents the coming revolution by telling the story of the researchers' exploration of the law, their ingenious work and unexpected insights. Buchanan reveals that we are witnessing the emergence of an extraordinarily powerful new field of science that will help us comprehend the bewildering and unruly rhythms that dominate our lives and may even lead to a true science of the dynamics of human culture and history.

Ubiquity: Why Catastrophes Happen

Reference

Author Mark Buchanan reveals a biblical view of teh mystery of heaven. You will be renewed and inspired. You will finally understand why everything in this world is not enough - why, as believers, we are nevera t rest when all all seems right.

Things Unseen

Multnomah Publishers

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Buchanan, Mark. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Buchanan, Mark

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Buchanan, Mark. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Small World : Uncovering Nature's Hidden Networks

Spiritual Rhythm: Being with Jesus Every Season of Your Soul

God Walk: Moving at the Speed of Your Soul

Your Church Is Too Safe: Why Following Christ Turns the World Upside-Down

Your Church Is Too Safe: Why Following Christ Turns the World Upside-Down

Nexus: Small Worlds and the Groundbreaking Science of Networks

Nexus: Small Worlds and the Groundbreaking Science of Networks

Ubiquity: The Science of History . . . or Why the World Is Simpler Than We Think

Ubiquity: Why Catastrophes Happen

Things Unseen