Book Reviews

Abstract

The book reviews section serves to inform readers about current important books from a personal point of view. However, there are undoubtedly important classic books that should be on every desk. Some of these classic books have a certain patina, while others remain timelessly relevant. With this issue we are experimenting with a new subsection, “Classics Review," which reviews these timeless classics with a fresh, contemporary look. It can be found at the end of the section. I am looking forward to reader reactions. The featured review, by Nicola Bellomo of the book From Collective Beings to Quasi-Systems by Gianfranco Minati and Eliano Pessa, starts off the section. The review places the book in the context of the wider literature and emphasizes that it “shows how classical systems theory has to be replaced by new paradigms designed specifically for systems consisting of several interacting subsystems.” Interaction in the form of synchronization plays a role in Alfio Borzì's review of Statistical Physics of Synchronization by Shamik Gupta, Alessandro Campa, and Stefano Ruffo. According to Alfio, the authors “emphasize the advantage of studying synchronization in the Fokker--Planck framework.” We have five more insightful reviews on methodological and application aspects. Here I would like to put particular emphasis on Christian Meyer's review of the book Computational Metrics for Soccer Analysis by F. M. Clemente, J. B. Sequeiros, A. F. P. P. Correia, F. G. M. Silva, and F. M. L. Martins, which concludes with the German quotation “Der Kopf denkt, der Fuß versenkt” (Günter Netzer; English translation: “The head thinks, the foot sinks.'')