Up the road, at a more complex junction, it wasn't so pretty, but it was still civil and self-organised.

BBC: The selfless America outsiders don't see

But while Mr Buchanan explains all this well, he also makes a sweeping claim: that human society too is an example of self-organised criticality, and that it is therefore possible to use science to explain the patterns of history.

ECONOMIST: Megaphoneys

Distance students must be technology savvy, organised, and self-motivated.

ECONOMIST: Home, not quite alone

The book is organised in 39 self-contained sections.

ECONOMIST: Encapsulating a century in verse