r/compsci • u/No-Leopard-1691 • 6d ago

“Modern” Intro Books

I am currently reading Complexity: A Guided Tour by Melanie Mitchell and since it was published in 2009, I am wondering if there are more “modern”/“up-to-date” intro books.

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u/chasedthesun 6d ago

Computational Complexity is different from Santa Fe Institute style complexity theory. Some (or most) people on the comp sci subreddit will only be familiar with the former.

You could check out this book.

https://www.sfipress.org/books/the-complex-world

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u/No-Leopard-1691 6d ago

If you don’t mind could you give a brief explanation of the difference(s).

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u/currentscurrents 6d ago

Computational complexity is about how long algorithms take to run.

Complexity theory is the study of how large numbers of simple things interact to produce more complex things. It's about emergence and how systems become more than the sum of their parts.

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u/intronert 6d ago

For complexity specifically?

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u/theunsightlyassembly 6d ago

Mitchell's book holds up really well, the fundamentals haven't shifted dramatically since 2009

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u/currentscurrents 6d ago

Mostly because there hasn't been a ton of effort put into the field outside of the Santa Fe institute.

There are other people studying the same thing from other directions, but not under the banner of complexity theory.

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u/nuclear_splines 6d ago

I don't think this is accurate; there are complex systems groups at Boulder, Binghamton, Michigan, Vermont, and Northeastern, to name a few in the U.S. alone. SFI is still the north star, and all of those other institutes have at least a few SFI-affiliated faculty, but there's considerable work in the field outside of New Mexico now.

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u/No-Leopard-1691 6d ago

No, not specifically

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u/intronert 6d ago

What, then?

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u/No-Leopard-1691 6d ago

Since I am just getting into Systems Theory I don’t really know so I didn’t want my answer to dissuade any good recommendations.