Essay on the Importance of Being Nonlinear

One of my favorite quotes is from a letter of Charles Darwin (1887): "I have long discovered that geologists never read each other''s works, and that the only object in writing a book is proof of earnestness, and that you do not form your opinions without undergoing labour of some kind. " It is not clear if this private opinion of Darwin was one that he held to be absolutely true, or was one of th...