The Origins of Order: Self-Organization and Selection in Evolution by Stuart A. Kauffman (Hardcover with Dust Jacket).

Stuart Kauffman has written a challenging book on the general problem of the origins of life and maintenance of order in complex biological systems. Kauffman contends that the basic concepts of Darwinian evolution by natural selection must be extended to accommodate new information from molecular biology, chemistry, physics, and mathematics. Kauffman's hallmark is a shift to nonlinear paradigms for living systems. Kauffman argues that biological order is largely self-organized and spontaneous, and proposes to extend evolutionary theory beyond Darwin. His thesis requires three components: an understanding of spontaneous sources of order and self-organization; integration with natural selection, which in Kauffman's scheme molds biological order; and a consideration of adaptation. Origins of Order will advance our understanding of evolution and provoke considerable discussion among evolutionary, molecular and developmental biologists.

Overview:
Presents a new paradigm for evolutionary biology
Extends the basic concepts of Darwinian evolution to accommodate recent findings and perspectives
Focuses on the concept of self-organization
Shows how complex systems can spontaneously exhibit stunning degrees of order

Table of Contents
1. Conceptual Outline of Current Evolutionary Theory

PART I: Adaptation on the Edge of Chaos
2. The Structure of Rugged Fitness Landscapes
3. Biological Implications of Rugged Fitness Landscapes
4. The Structure of Adaptive Landscapes Underlying Protein Evolution
5. Self-Organization and Adaptation in Complex Systems
6. Coevolving Complex Systems

PART II: The Crystallization of Life
7. The Origins of Life: A New View
8. The Origin of a Connected Metabolism
9. Hypercycles and Coding
10. Random Grammars: Models of functional Integration and Transformation

PART III: Order and Ontogeny
11. The Architecture of Genetic Regulatory Circuits and Its Evolution
12. Differentiation: The Dynamical Behaviors of Genetic Regulatory Networks
13. Selection for Cell Type
14. Morphology, Maps and the Spatial Ordering of Integrated Tissues

Epilogue
Bibliography
Index