Chaos in circuits and systems [Book Review]

C haos in Circuits and Systems is an elucidating account of state-of-the-art nonlinear circuits and systems. Nonlinear phenomena and chaos are ubiquitous in nature and man-made systems. As a consequence, a large number of conference proceedings, research monographs, textbooks, and special journal issues have been published so far. Is there a need for yet another book on the same topic? Obviously the editors think there is. In their preface, the editors hope that " this book can serve as an updated and handy reference " for anybody working in the filed of nonlinear science. wrote: " The child of three fathers and borne of circumstances , this book does not pretend to be a systematic treatise. Rather, it aims to present Mathematical System Theory as it is today – a lively, challenging, exciting, difficult , confused, rewarding, and largely unexplored field, one which is already very important and yet holds the promise of still bigger discoveries ". The same can be written for the book Chaos in Circuits and Systems: it is a child of many fathers aiming to present Nonlinear Circuits and Systems Theory as a lively and challenging field, which still holds the promise of new discoveries in both theory and application. The editors and the authors of this book did a great job in choosing and writing about different subjects, which are useful for almost everybody: university professors, graduate students, researchers and industrial practitioners. In brief, the book is a delight and, for the correct audience, it will be very successful. Chaos in Circuits and Systems, edited by Professors Chen and Ueta, is one of those essential books that should be found on the shelf of just about every nonlin-ear scientist. This special volume collects 29 chapters written by eminent scientists working in the field of non-linear circuits and systems. Three articles on design methods for chaotic circuits open the book. The first article, " Chaotic Oscillators – Design Principles " , is an introduction to the design of chaotic oscillators from an electrical engineering point of view. In the second chapter, " Design Methodology for Autonomous Chaotic Oscillators " , the authors, A. S. Elwak-il and M. P. Kennedy, propose design methodology for autonomous chaotic oscillators, based on the following four rules: 1) the nonlinearity in a chaotic oscillator should be introduced only by means of a passive device; 2) the nonlinear element should be separated …