[gibrown]

Nonlinear Dynamics and Chaos by Strogatz

Chaos theory and deterministic systems are a fascinating vantage point for thinking about the dynamics of large computer systems. Thinking of them as stochastic systems is sometimes useful, but most of the systems are actually just operating in unstable periodic processes which are much closer to being a chaotic system rather than a stochastic system. This influences how I think about testing and debugging large distributed systems.

I will say, I'm not sure I could have learned it well without a class and a good professor. The author has a number of books though and is a professor at Cornell.

[dorchadas]

Absolutely loved this book. Had a class on it in my applied maths and theoretical physics masters and it was hands-down my favourite.