Sign-In
Cart
Playing Odd: Emergence, Intelligence, and the Hidden Logic of Living Systems
Paperback
General MathematicsGeneral ScienceGenetics
Please select the version of book you would like to purchase.
ISBN13: 9798995423614
Publisher: Ontic Mind Press
Published: Apr 8 2026
Pages: 144
Weight: 0.44
Height: 0.34 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
Publisher: Ontic Mind Press
Published: Apr 8 2026
Pages: 144
Weight: 0.44
Height: 0.34 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
Somewhere between the feedback shriek of a Stratocaster, the slow alchemy of a fermenting cheese, and the panic of a market in freefall, there is a single unifying principle. It is the same principle that builds a human brain from forty-six strands of DNA, that lets a slime mold solve a routing problem, and that allows a colony of mindless insects to construct something that looks, disturbingly, like wisdom.
Playing Odd is a journey through one of science's most captivating ideas: that complex, intelligent behavior can emerge from surprisingly simple rules, in neurons, in ecosystems, in colonies of insects, and in the microscopic world beneath our feet.
Beginning with the audacious failure of a billion-dollar project to simulate the human brain, physician and scientist Joshua Young guides readers through fourteen chapters of discovery. Along the way, you will encounter Claude Shannon, juggler, poet, and inventor of the bit, revealing why noise carries more information than signal, and why that fact matters for everything from cryptography to neurodevelopment. You will follow the counterintuitive logic by which a baby's brain, awash in a hundred billion neurons, must destroy fourteen billion of them to become capable of thought, and why Michelangelo's approach to marble turns out to be evolution's approach to the mind.
You will sit with John Searle's Chinese Room and ask who, exactly, understands Chinese, a question that was merely philosophical until November 30, 2022, when ChatGPT made it urgent. And you will discover stigmergy: the principle by which termites build cathedrals, honeybees map a landscape in pure motion, and bacteria store memory in slime trails, all without a single neuron between them.
Along the way you will also encounter Sigmund Freud dissecting eels, a Roman recipe that became an American motto, and wasps whose imprecision turns out to be their greatest architectural achievement.
Playing Odd asks a deceptively simple question: where does intelligence live? The answer, it turns out, is everywhere, encoded not in brains alone, but in the structure of the world itself.
For readers of Sync by Steven Strogatz, The Information by James Gleick, and Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake.
Playing Odd is the companion volume to the podcast of the same name.
Beginning with the audacious failure of a billion-dollar project to simulate the human brain, physician and scientist Joshua Young guides readers through fourteen chapters of discovery. Along the way, you will encounter Claude Shannon, juggler, poet, and inventor of the bit, revealing why noise carries more information than signal, and why that fact matters for everything from cryptography to neurodevelopment. You will follow the counterintuitive logic by which a baby's brain, awash in a hundred billion neurons, must destroy fourteen billion of them to become capable of thought, and why Michelangelo's approach to marble turns out to be evolution's approach to the mind.
You will sit with John Searle's Chinese Room and ask who, exactly, understands Chinese, a question that was merely philosophical until November 30, 2022, when ChatGPT made it urgent. And you will discover stigmergy: the principle by which termites build cathedrals, honeybees map a landscape in pure motion, and bacteria store memory in slime trails, all without a single neuron between them.
Along the way you will also encounter Sigmund Freud dissecting eels, a Roman recipe that became an American motto, and wasps whose imprecision turns out to be their greatest architectural achievement.
Playing Odd asks a deceptively simple question: where does intelligence live? The answer, it turns out, is everywhere, encoded not in brains alone, but in the structure of the world itself.
For readers of Sync by Steven Strogatz, The Information by James Gleick, and Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake.
Playing Odd is the companion volume to the podcast of the same name.
Also from
Young, Joshua
Also in
General Science
How It All Works: All Scientific Laws and Phenomena Illustrated & Demonstrated
Dant, Adam
Clegg, Brian
Hardcover
$14.99
The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race
Isaacson, Walter
Hardcover
$12.99
The Little Book of Big Explorations: Adventures Into the Unknown That Changed Everything
Osman, Jheni
Paperback
$9.99
The Eureka Machine: Why AI Is the Key to Unlocking a New Era of Scientific Discoveries
Socher, Richard
Hardcover
$28.50
Kobuk the Destroyer: And Other Tales from the Wild, Unseen World of Test Engineering
Davies, Alex
Hardcover
$28.49
A Bird's IQ: Innovation, Intelligence, and Problem Solving in the Avian World
Lefebvre, Louis
Hardcover
$26.60
The Ultimate Guide to Rebuilding a Civilization: A Technical Manual for the Post-Collapse Era
Evans, James
Paperback
$19.99
Ancient Astrology in Theory and Practice: A Manual of Traditional Techniques, Volume I: Assessing Planetary Condition
George, Demetra
Paperback
$61.25
The Reference Manual of Woody Plant Propagation: From Seed to Tissue Culture, Second Edition
Heuser Jr, Charles W.
Dirr, Michael A.
Paperback
$24.99
The Quantum Power of GLP-1 Peptides: Unlocking the Science that Leads to Lasting Weight Loss and Optimal Healthspan
Seeds, William A.
Paperback
$34.20
Judas Dentistry: How Dentists Scorn Science, Break the Hippocratic Oath, and Wreck Their Patients' Minds and Bodies
Yoho, (Ret) Robert
Paperback
$23.75
Force of Nature: Understanding Evolution's Deepest Logic-And Putting It to Use
Jones, Owen D.
Hardcover
$28.79
Elledge's Nontrivial Trivia: The Seriously Enlightening Stories Behind Supposedly Simple Facts
Elledge, Jonn
Paperback
$16.16
5 Steps to a 5: AP Biology 2027: Practice AP Tests + AP Content Review + Digital Exams
Anestis, Mark
Burris, Kelcey
Paperback
$27.85
You Look Like a Thing and I Love You: How Artificial Intelligence Works and Why It's Making the World a Weirder Place
Shane, Janelle
Paperback
$18.99
Liquid Rules: The Delightful and Dangerous Substances That Flow Through Our Lives
Miodownik, Mark
Paperback
$17.09
The New Guys: The Historic Class of Astronauts That Broke Barriers and Changed the Face of Space Travel
Bagby, Meredith
Paperback
$20.89
180 Days(r) Science for Sixth Grade: Practice, Assess, Diagnose
Bayne, Bebra
Homayoun, Lauren
Paperback
$27.59
Baked to Perfection: Winner of the Fortnum & Mason Food and Drink Awards 2022
Cermelj, Katarina
Hardcover
$28.50
Notes on Complexity: A Scientific Theory of Connection, Consciousness, and Being
Theise, Neil
Paperback
$19.00
Gray's Anatomy (Deluxe Leatherbound Edition): Anatomy Descriptive and Surgical
Gray, Henry, Frs
Hardcover
$28.49
Science in Seconds for Kids: Over 100 Experiments You Can Do in Ten Minutes or Less
Stier, Samuel Cord
Potter, Jean
Paperback
$17.09
Stay Curious and Keep Exploring: 50 Amazing, Bubbly, and Creative Science Experiments to Do with the Whole Family
Calandrelli, Emily
Hardcover
From $10.99
Designing for People: An Introduction to Human Factors Engineering
Wickens, Christopher D.
Liu, Yili
Boyle, Linda Ng
Paperback
$93.60
When the Forest Breathes: Renewal and Resilience in the Natural World (Large Print Edition)
Simard, Suzanne
Paperback
$28.80
Why Nobody Understands Quantum Physics: The Story of the Science That Shapes Our World
Broeckaert, Céline
Verstraete, Frank
Hardcover
$26.99
Stuff Matters: Exploring the Marvelous Materials That Shape Our Man-Made World
Miodownik, Mark
Paperback
$17.09
(Super) Natural Science: The Real Science of Superheroes, Mythic Creatures, and the (Sci-Fi) Universe
Liu, Charles
Paperback
$23.70
Allies for Awakening: Guidelines for productive and safe experiences with entheogens
Metzner, Ralph
Paperback
$19.00
Think in Systems: The Art of Strategic Planning, Effective Problem Solving, And Lasting Results
McKey, Zoe
Paperback
$19.19
The Next Big Thing: Innovations for a Better, Smarter, Stronger Tomorrow
Marciano, Rob
Trefil, James
Hardcover
$28.50
Is This an Agate?: An Illustrated Guide to Lake Superior's Beach Stones Michigan
Robinson, Susan
Paperback
$7.55
The Theoretical Minimum: What You Need to Know to Start Doing Physics
Hrabovsky, George
Susskind, Leonard
Paperback
$18.04
Elementary Science Education: Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding, Vol. II, grades 3-5, 2nd ed.
Nebel, Bernard J.
Paperback
$57.44
The Radioactive Boy Scout: The Frightening True Story of a Whiz Kid and His Homemade Nuclear Reactor
Silverstein, Ken
Paperback
$21.00
Pseudoscience: An Amusing History of Crackpot Ideas and Why We Love Them
Kang, Lydia
Pedersen, Nate
Hardcover
From $19.99
The Physics of Wall Street: A Brief History of Predicting the Unpredictable
Weatherall, James Owen
Paperback
$18.04
The Peptide Protocols: Exploring the Science for Human Optimization: Exploring the
Smith, W. T.
Paperback
$23.74
Counterclockwise: Using Peptides to Renew, Rejuvenate, and Rediscover (Large Print Edition)
Ferree, Suzanne J.
Hardcover
$28.03
The Autobiography of Nikola Tesla and Other Works (Deluxe Leatherbound Edition)
Tesla, Nikola
Martin, Thomas Commerford
Hardcover
$23.74
The Salmon Cannon and the Levitating Frog: And Other Serious Discoveries of Silly Science
York, Carly Anne
Hardcover
$27.00
They Had Names: Tracing the History of the North American Indigenous People
Jeanson, Nathaniel
Hardcover
$20.89
Middle School Science Education: Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding, Vol. III, Grades 6-8
Nebel, Bernard J.
Paperback
$44.95
180 Days(r) Geography for Fourth Grade: Practice, Assess, Diagnose
Aracich, Chuck
Aracich, Charles
Paperback
$27.59
Avoiding the Great Filter: Illuminating Pathways to Humanity's Future in the Cosmos
Jiang, Jonathan H.
Rosen, Philip E.
Hardcover
$41.79
Outer Space Is Closer Than Antarctica: And Other Things I Learned While Falling in Love at the Bottom of the World
Ott, Michelle
Hardcover
$18.95
Signals from the Subatomic World: How to Build a Proton Precession Magnetometer
Hollos, Stefan
Hollos, Richard
Paperback
$23.70
Art-Science Undisciplined: A Playbook for Transformative Collaboration
Balasubramanian, Janani
Gosnell, Natalie
Paperback
$27.54
Ether Day: The Strange Tale of America's Greatest Medical Discovery and the Haunted Men Who Made It
Fenster, J. M.
Paperback
$17.99
Labwork to Leadership: A Concise Guide to Thriving in the Science Job You Weren't Trained for
Heemstra, Jen
Hardcover
$47.94
Science and Cooking: Physics Meets Food, from Homemade to Haute Cuisine
Weitz, David
Brenner, Michael
Sörensen, Pia
Hardcover
$33.25
The One Thing You Need to Know: The Simple Way to Understand the Most Important Ideas in Science
Chown, Marcus
Paperback
$23.74
Hunt for the Skinwalker: Science Confronts the Unexplained at a Remote Ranch in Utah
Kelleher, Colm A.
Knapp, George
Paperback
$18.04
GED Test Prep - Science & Social Studies: A Quickstudy Laminated Reference Guide
Miskevich, Frank
Berg Scherer, Rachel
Other
$8.50
The Pale Blue Data Point: An Earth-Based Perspective on the Search for Alien Life
Willis, Jon
Hardcover
$24.70
Storytime Stem: Nursery Rhymes: 10 Favorite Rhymes with Hands-On Investigations
Rhodes, Immacula A.
Rhodes, Immacula
Paperback
$12.34
Reactions: An Illustrated Exploration of Elements, Molecules, and Change in the Universe
Gray, Theodore
Paperback
$18.99
The Scientist's Guide to Writing, 3rd Edition: How to Write More Easily and Effectively Throughout Your Scientific Career
Heard, Stephen B.
Paperback
$40.00
Life in Sync: The Science of Internal Clocks and How We're Disrupting Them
Gander, Philippa
Hardcover
$21.80