A multidisciplinary book using categories

[Andree Ehresmann <andree.ehresmann@u-picardie.fr>]

I call to your attention our new book: "Memory Evolutive Systems:  
Hierarchy, Emergence, Cognition", by Andrée Ehresmann and Jean-Paul  
Vanbremeersch, published in Elsevier's Series on Multidisciplinarity  
(Volume 4, 2007).
This book, based on a 20 years long series of papers, develops the  
theory of Memory Evolutive Systems which we have introduced as a  
mathemati-cal model, based on category theory, for complex natural  
systems, such as biological, social or cognitive systems. It shows how  
well-known categorical operations (in particular (co)limits, partial  
completions of categories and fibrations) give an approach to the  
problems of hierarchy, emergence/reductionism, self-organization and  
learning.
The main tools are exposed in Part A (Hierarchy and emergence), the  
global theory in Part B (Memory Evolutive Systems), and Part C  
(Applications to cognition and consciousness) is devoted to the case  
of cognitive systems, studying the formation of a procedural and a  
semantic memory allowing for the emergence of higher cognitive  
processes up to consciousness.
The book is written for a multidisciplinary audience, with many  
illustrative examples in the most varied domains, but also with short  
proofs of the main mathematical results. An animation can be found on  
the internet site:
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/vbm-ehr/
Comments and critics will be most welcomed.
Andree Ehresmann