This book is about how the wonderful diversity of the universe can arise out of a set of fairly simple basic laws. It is written by an expert in both the fundamental laws and the complex structures that they can produce.' Stephen Hawking's acclaim of Murray Gell-Mann's literary debut is typical of the reception the book received on first publication in 1994.

From one of the twentieth century's greatest scientists comes this unique, highly personal vision of the connections between the basic laws of physics and the complexity and diversity of the natural world. THE QUARK AND THE JAGUAR - the simple and the complex - is an irresistibly engaging and rewarding introduction to the life's work of physicist, polymath and Nobel Laureate Murray Gell-Mann.