The Art of Insight in Science and Engineering ─ Mastering Complexity

In this book, Sanjoy Mahajan shows us that the way to master complexity is throughinsight rather than precision. Precision can overwhelm us with information, whereas insight connectsseemingly disparate pieces of information into a simple picture. Unlike computers, humans depend oninsight. Based on the author's fifteen years of teaching at MIT, Cambridge University, and OlinCollege, The Art of Insight in Science and Engineering shows us how to buildinsight and find understanding, giving readers tools to help them solve any problem in science andengineering.

To master complexity, we can organize it or discard it. TheArt of Insight in Science and Engineering first teaches the tools for organizingcomplexity, then distinguishes the two paths for discarding complexity: with and without loss ofinformation. Questions and problems throughout the text help readers master and apply these groupsof tools. Armed with this three-part toolchest, and without complicated mathematics, readers canestimate the flight range of birds and planes and the strength of chemical bonds, understand thephysics of pianos and xylophones, and explain why skies are blue and sunsets arered.

The Art of Insight in Science and Engineering will appearin print and online under a Creative Commons Noncommercial Share Alike license.

Sanjoy Mahajan is Associate Professor of Applied Science and Engineering at Olin College of Engineering and Visiting Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT. He was a Marshall Scholar at Oxford University and a Fellow of Corpus Christi College in the University of Cambridge, where he was a member of the physics faculty. He is the author of Street-Fighting Mathematics: The Art of Educated Guessing and Opportunistic Problem Solving (MIT Press).