What do you think?
Rate this book
Playing Odd: Emergence, Intelligence, and the Hidden Logic of Living Systems
137 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 10, 2026
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
August 18, 2026
I thoroughly enjoyed Dr Joshua Young’s book Playing Odd. Emergence, Intelligence, and the Hidden Logic of Living Systems.
This is a delightful book, written in clear, beautiful prose, that provides fascinating insights into the living world and how complex living systems emerge from relatively limited physical conditions and data sets. The question at the core of the book is the following: how can something as complex and as powerful as the human brain emerge from the encoding of only 20,000 genes – the equivalent of a few megabytes, which “would hardly make a dent in the smallest USB drive”?
Starting with this question, Dr Young takes us through a rich journey of knowledge and discovery in order to shine a light on how nature creates complexity. He patiently lays out the building blocks of a detailed and compelling demonstration, explaining the basics of epigenetics, and the role information, randomness, and self-assembly play in creating complex life. To do this, Dr Young effortlessly mobilizes a range of disciplines, from computer science to quantum physics, from statistics to genetics, and evolutionary biology.
Dr Young has a knack for explaining complex ideas in simple language, using examples inspired by the building of the pyramids, double pendulums, meteorology, and the formation of snow flakes. He even engages the reader with experiments that can be done at home, using lighting matches. Dr Young also has a talent for storytelling and his book is full of gems drawn from the history of technology (the development of the IBM Selectric typewriter), rock music (the alleged encoding of Led Zeppelin songs with satanic messages), and archeology (the Egyptian pyramids and Greek myths).
Based on Dr Young’s Playing Odd podcast (which I also highly recommend), this book is a pleasure to read: thought provoking, bold, and entertaining (with many touches of humor), it reminds us that science can be fun and exhilarating.
This is a delightful book, written in clear, beautiful prose, that provides fascinating insights into the living world and how complex living systems emerge from relatively limited physical conditions and data sets. The question at the core of the book is the following: how can something as complex and as powerful as the human brain emerge from the encoding of only 20,000 genes – the equivalent of a few megabytes, which “would hardly make a dent in the smallest USB drive”?
Starting with this question, Dr Young takes us through a rich journey of knowledge and discovery in order to shine a light on how nature creates complexity. He patiently lays out the building blocks of a detailed and compelling demonstration, explaining the basics of epigenetics, and the role information, randomness, and self-assembly play in creating complex life. To do this, Dr Young effortlessly mobilizes a range of disciplines, from computer science to quantum physics, from statistics to genetics, and evolutionary biology.
Dr Young has a knack for explaining complex ideas in simple language, using examples inspired by the building of the pyramids, double pendulums, meteorology, and the formation of snow flakes. He even engages the reader with experiments that can be done at home, using lighting matches. Dr Young also has a talent for storytelling and his book is full of gems drawn from the history of technology (the development of the IBM Selectric typewriter), rock music (the alleged encoding of Led Zeppelin songs with satanic messages), and archeology (the Egyptian pyramids and Greek myths).
Based on Dr Young’s Playing Odd podcast (which I also highly recommend), this book is a pleasure to read: thought provoking, bold, and entertaining (with many touches of humor), it reminds us that science can be fun and exhilarating.
Displaying 1 of 1 review