false 133131 0 0 818170 0393325423 9780393325423 8 <![CDATA[Six Degrees: The Science of a Connected Age]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178660526m/818170.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178660526s/818170.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/818170.Six_Degrees_The_Science_of_a_Connected_Age 3.78 82 The pioneering young scientist whose work on the structure of small worlds has triggered an avalanche of interest in networks. In this remarkable book, Duncan Watts, one of the principal architects of network theory, sets out to explain the innovative research that he and other scientists are spearheading to create a blueprint of our connected planet. Whether they bind computers, economies, or terrorist organizations, networks are everywhere in the real world, yet only recently have scientists attempted to explain their mysterious workings.

From epidemics of disease to outbreaks of market madness, from people searching for information to firms surviving crisis and change, from the structure of personal relationships to the technological and social choices of entire societies, Watts weaves together a network of discoveries across an array of disciplines to tell the story of an explosive new field of knowledge, the people who are building it, and his own peculiar path in forging this new science. .]]> 133131 3.76 104 9 2004 1519852 0393041425 9780393041422 1 <![CDATA[Six Degrees: The Science of a Connected Age]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1184635792m/1519852.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1184635792s/1519852.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1519852.Six_Degrees_The_Science_of_a_Connected_Age 3.88 8 Six Degrees, sociologist Duncan Watts examines networks like these: what they are, how they're being studied, and what we can use them for. To illustrate the often complicated mathematics that describe such structures, Watts uses plenty of examples from life, without which this book would quickly move beyond a general science readership. Small chapters make each thought-provoking conclusion easy to swallow, though some are hard to digest. For instance, in a short bit on "coercive externalities," Watts sums up sociological research showing that:

"Conversations concerning politics displayed a consistent pattern .... On election day, the strongest predictor of electoral success was not which party an individual privately supported but which party he or she expected would win."

Six Degrees attempts to help readers understand the new and exciting field of networks and complexity. While considerably more demanding than a general book like The Tipping Point, it offers readers a snapshot of a riveting moment in science, when understanding things like disease epidemics and the stock market seems almost within our reach. --Therese Littleton]]> 133131 3.76 104 9 2003 227473 0099444968 9780099444961 0 <![CDATA[Six Degrees]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172877412m/227473.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172877412s/227473.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/227473.Six_Degrees 3.00 6 Six Degrees, sociologist Duncan Watts examines networks like these: what they are, how they're being studied, and what we can use them for. To illustrate the often complicated mathematics that describe such structures, Watts uses plenty of examples from life, without which this book would quickly move beyond a general science readership. Small chapters make each thought-provoking conclusion easy to swallow, though some are hard to digest. For instance, in a short bit on "coercive externalities," Watts sums up sociological research showing that:

"Conversations concerning politics displayed a consistent pattern .... On election day, the strongest predictor of electoral success was not which party an individual privately supported but which party he or she expected would win."

Six Degrees attempts to help readers understand the new and exciting field of networks and complexity. While considerably more demanding than a general book like The Tipping Point, it offers readers a snapshot of a riveting moment in science, when understanding things like disease epidemics and the stock market seems almost within our reach. --Therese Littleton]]> 133131 3.76 104 9 2004 373169 0691117047 9780691117041 0 <![CDATA[Small Worlds: The Dynamics of Networks between Order and Randomness]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174256090m/373169.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174256090s/373169.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/373169.Small_Worlds_The_Dynamics_of_Networks_between_Order_and_Randomness 4.00 4 The networks of this story are everywhere: the brain is a network of neurons; organisations are people networks; the global economy is a network of national economies, which are networks of markets, which are in turn networks of interacting producers and consumers. Food webs, ecosystems, and the Internet can all be represented as networks, as can strategies for solving a problem, topics in a conversation, and even words in a language. Many of these networks, the author claims, will turn out to be small worlds.

How do such networks matter? Simply put, local actions can have global consequences, and the relationship between local and global dynamics depends critically on the network's structure. Watts illustrates the subtleties of this relationship using a variety of simple models---the spread of infectious disease through a structured population; the evolution of cooperation in game theory; the computational capacity of cellular automata; and the sychronisation of coupled phase-oscillators.

Watts's novel approach is relevant to many problems that deal with network connectivity and complex systems' behaviour in general: How do diseases (or rumours) spread through social networks? How does cooperation evolve in large groups? How do cascading failures propagate through large power grids, or financial systems? What is the most efficient architecture for an organisation, or for a communications network? This fascinating exploration will be fruitful in a remarkable variety of fields, including physics and mathematics, as well as sociology, economics, and biology.

]]> 133131 3.76 104 9 2003 304979 0691113564 9780691113562 0 <![CDATA[The Structure and Dynamics of Networks:]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173565863m/304979.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173565863s/304979.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/304979.The_Structure_and_Dynamics_of_Networks_ 4.00 4 From the Internet to networks of friendship, disease transmission, and even terrorism, the concept--and the reality--of networks has come to pervade modern society. But what exactly is a network? What different types of networks are there? Why are they interesting, and what can they tell us? In recent years, scientists from a range of fields--including mathematics, physics, computer science, sociology, and biology--have been pursuing these questions and building a new "science of networks." This book brings together for the first time a set of seminal articles representing research from across these disciplines. It is an ideal sourcebook for the key research in this fast-growing field.

The book is organized into four sections, each preceded by an editors' introduction summarizing its contents and general theme. The first section sets the stage by discussing some of the historical antecedents of contemporary research in the area. From there the book moves to the empirical side of the science of networks before turning to the foundational modeling ideas that have been the focus of much subsequent activity. The book closes by taking the reader to the cutting edge of network science--the relationship between network structure and system dynamics. From network robustness to the spread of disease, this section offers a potpourri of topics on this rapidly expanding frontier of the new science.

]]> 90676 3.53 15 3 89203 3.78 395 76 133131 3.76 104 9 2006 2458080 0434009083 9780434009084 0 <![CDATA[Six Degrees: The Science of a Connected Age]]> http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-111x148.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2458080.Six_Degrees_The_Science_of_a_Connected_Age 0.0 0 Six Degrees, sociologist Duncan Watts examines networks like these: what they are, how they're being studied, and what we can use them for. When the power goes out, when we find that a stranger knows someone we know, when dot-com stocks soar in price, networks are evident. To illustrate the often complicated mathematics that describe such structures, Watts uses plenty of examples from real life, without which this book would quickly move beyond a general science readership. Small chapters make each thought-provoking conclusion easy to swallow, though some are hard to digest. For instance, in a short bit on "coercive externalities", Watts sums up sociological research showing that:
Conversations concerning politics displayed a consistent pattern ... On election day, the strongest predictor of electoral success was not which party an individual privately supported but which party he or she expected would win."
Six Degrees attempts to help readers understand the new and exciting field of networks and complexity. While considerably more demanding than a general book such as The Tipping Point, it offers readers a snapshot of a riveting moment in science, when understanding things such as disease epidemics and the stock market seems almost within our reach. --Therese Littleton, Amazon.com]]> 133131 3.76 104 9 2003 737862 0434884383 9780434884384 0 <![CDATA[Six Degrees Proof]]> http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-111x148.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/737862.Six_Degrees_Proof 0.0 0 133131 3.76 104 9 2003 227475 844931772X 9788449317729 0 <![CDATA[Seis Grados De Separacion / Six Degrees: La ciencia de las redes en la era del acceso/The Science of a Connected Age]]> http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-111x148.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/227475.Seis_Grados_De_Separacion_Six_Degrees_La_ciencia_de_las_redes_en_la_era_del_acceso_The_Science_of_a_Connected_Age 0.0 0 133131 3.76 104 9 2006 3430255 0691005419 9780691005416 0 <![CDATA[Small Worlds]]> http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-111x148.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3430255.Small_Worlds 0.0 0 The networks of this story are everywhere: the brain is a network of neurons; organisations are people networks; the global economy is a network of national economies, which are networks of markets, which are in turn networks of interacting producers and consumers. Food webs, ecosystems, and the Internet can all be represented as networks, as can strategies for solving a problem, topics in a conversation, and even words in a language. Many of these networks, the author claims, will turn out to be small worlds.

How do such networks matter? Simply put, local actions can have global consequences, and the relationship between local and global dynamics depends critically on the network's structure. Watts illustrates the subtleties of this relationship using a variety of simple models---the spread of infectious disease through a structured population; the evolution of cooperation in game theory; the computational capacity of cellular automata; and the sychronisation of coupled phase-oscillators.

Watts's novel approach is relevant to many problems that deal with network connectivity and complex systems' behaviour in general: How do diseases (or rumours) spread through social networks? How does cooperation evolve in large groups? How do cascading failures propagate through large power grids, or financial systems? What is the most efficient architecture for an organisation, or for a communications network? This fascinating exploration will be fruitful in a remarkable variety of fields, including physics and mathematics, as well as sociology, economics, and biology.

]]> 133131 3.76 104 9 1999