[From the jacket cover]

>>> Emergence is what happens when an interconnected system of relatively simple elements self-organizes to form more intelligent, more adaptive higher-level behavior. It's a bottom-up model; rather than being engineered by a general or a master planner, emergence begins at the ground level. Systems that at first glance seem vastly different -- ant colonies, human brains, cities, immune systems -- all turn out to follow the rules of emergence. In each of these systems, agents residing on one scale start producing behavior that lies a scale above them: ants create colonies, urbanites create neighborhoods <<<

[Favorite Passages]

[Mini-review]

After reading the book, I decided to check out reviews of the book that can be found on the web including Amazon, B&N, etc. I was shocked to see just how many considered this an introductory book on the concept of emegent intelligence. Ok, after some reflection, I guess I'll have to go along with that. After all, I really did cut my "emergent" teeth on Kevin Kelly's Out Of Control (first half) and I really don't feel that Johnson's book added to that anything in terms of basic understanding. But Emergence does do a beautiful job of explaining the concepts of emergent intellingents using a few simple real-world examples - perfect for one just finding themselves interested in the topic.