chaos theory for lay people? [was MDMD(4) p.123 small re-write]

[Vaska]

There seem to be no "chaos theory" images in _M&D_.  What I've noticed, so
far, is a developing critique of 17th/18th [+ 19th century science] in the
novel, plus a sprinkling of [it seems quite affectionate] jokes and puns
that advert to late 20th-century science.  

To my ear, Pynchon's critique of science has a familiar Romantic ring to it
in _M&D_, is almost Blakean in its overall temper. Pynchon is also willing
to weave in anachronistic fun-house references to leptons and such, but so
far I haven't seen [personal oversight, perhaps?] allusions to the types of
science that would indeed gladden a Goethe's heart [and Blake's too,
perhaps, though I'm less sure about that].  I would like to know more about
precisely that kind of science so as to be able to assess the meaning of its
absence in this a-historically historical novel, otherwise so full of
deliberate anachronisms of all kinds.  I expect there's a reason Pynchon
doesn't mention it -- and I expect it has nothing to do with ignorance.  The
people I talked to last year, before this novel came out, did give me a
fairly hefty bibliography on the subject, but I'm afraid I still don't know
where to start from.  So, if Matthew or somebody else has a couple of
pointers to some reasonably accessible stuff on the subject [and I don't
mean Prigogine & Stengers], I'd appreciate hearing of them.

Vaska