Bought this book a few years after it was released, but only read occasional chapters. Today I finished a cover-to-cover reading (including a 2008 afterword by the author) and it was pretty darn good.

The book begins and ends with Edward Lorenz, a weatherman who understood why we can't have long-term weather forecasting. Along the way we touch on Mitchell Feigenbaum and his constants, and Benoit Mandelbrot and his fractal dimensions. Utilizing computers to plot what early mathematicians and physicists suspected was a fantastic breakthrough.

The last few chapters cover some of the fascinating ways an understanding of nonlinear systems translates to cardiac arrhythmia, eye movement and crystallization. The newer afterword barely touched on these, and I want to read more on how the math was applied to these and other facets of modern life (and perhaps quantum mechanics?). I would especially like to read more on turbulence.

Highly recommended for the history and background of this most compelling mathematical work.