How Nature Works: The Science of Self-organized Criticality
. . . In print, at least, what might seem arrogant comes across as a kind of  innocent, childlike enthusiasm, a lack of concern for anything but the sheer joy of  figuring things out. His ruthless simplifications of geology, evolution, and neurology pay  off because, as Bak notes, his models describe behavior that is common across these  domains. This universality means that trampling across others' turf is not only acceptable,  but almost mandatory, if the underlying principles are to be exposed. Finally, for the most  part, Bak wants the reader to grasp the basic logic of his arguments; only rarely does he  try to persuade with flights of poetic language or brute intellectual authority.