One of the authors of the book . Prigozhin is well known to the Soviet reader for his work in the field of thermodynamics of irreversible processes and statistical physics (see .). , for example, Glensdorff P. , Pretty And . Thermodynamic theory of structure, stability and fluctuations, M. , World, 1973). This book is devoted to one of the main problems of modern natural science - the emergence of orderliness in open systems far from equilibrium. The periodic processes in chemically active media, pre-biological evolution, different levels of regulation in biological systems are considered in detail. It can serve as an excellent illustration of the use of modern mathematical methods in chemistry and biology. Designed for a wide range of chemists, physicists and biologists