Dots and Lines: Hidden Networks in Social Media, AI, and Nature

by Anthony Bonato

Can networks unlock secrets of AI or make sense of a social media mess? A behind-the-scenes look at how networks reveal reality.

According to mathematician Anthony Bonato, the hidden world of networks permeates our lives in astounding ways. From Bitcoin transactions to neural connections, his book explains how networks shape everything from political landscapes to climate patterns and how deceptively simple dots and lines can unveil the wonders of technology, society, and even nature.

From a fresh and startling look at the true impact of clever keywords in politicians' social media posts to a fun breakdown of survival strategies in reality TV shows, Bonato shows us how network theory operates everywhere. Each chapter focuses on a unique aspect of networks to reveal how they provide a captivating lens for bringing diverse phenomena into clearer focus.

The book offers an accessible snapshot of networks for anyone curious about what makes the modern world tick. Bonato's insights will give readers a deeper appreciation and understanding of networks and their relevance to our everyday lives.

288 pages, Hardcover

Published May 13, 2025

Reviews

[Brian Clegg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Networks are of huge significance to life and technology, so it was refreshing to read a popular maths title on the subject. I was a little concerned when, in the introductory chapter, Anthony Bonato spent quite a while discussing network/graph theory jargon - we really don't need to know that a network is referred to as G with nodes represented by V and edges by E, let alone the meaning of 'heavy tailed'. There is absolutely no need to have such technical-speak in a popular title. Unfortunately, he goes bombarding us with terminology in further chapters: it can be painful, especially when we are told a directed graph is known as a digraph, when I suspect most people outside of the graph theory community would consider a digraph a two letter phoneme.

Despite the relentless terminology we do learn a lot about networks and their applications, from Google's PageRank to Bacon numbers and from COVID infections to optimising security camera placement. As a writer, I was interested in the examination of character networks in books, though I would have liked to have seen a justification for linking characters if (and only if) their names appeared '15 words or less apart' in the text - it seems an arbitrary decision which should be justified.

The writing style was sometimes a touch saccharin. For example, on the night of the 2016 US election we are told that Bonato and a colleague 'stopped by a campus café, where I savoured a peppermint tea and a vegan cookie, reclining in a comfy chair.' Apart from confirming stereotypes about academics, this kind of thing really adds very little to the narrative that's of interest to the reader.

This is a difficult book to rate, neither fish nor fowl - it's a bit too technical for the general reader, but vague in its description of models and algorithms for someone with a mathematical or computing background. So, for example, we are told that the Louvain algorithm is one of the best for finding communities in networks. Apparently it uses the 'technical notion of modularity', but a detailed discussion of modularity is 'beyond our scope here', so we just get a vague sentence on what it does. In terms of discovering the range of potential applications of networks/graph theory, it's solidly four star, but I can't give it that as a satisfying popular maths title.

[Devi · Rating 5 out of 5]

A+ book. Chefs kiss writing. That first paragraph drew me in: "Networks are everywhere. We find them in the signals between neurons in our brains, in roads and highways linking our cities, among friends and followers on our social media, between caped heroes in comic books, in selections of favorite foods in our phone’s delivery apps, in contacts between people spreading the common cold, in the gravitational dance of distant galaxies, in bank transactions, and in the delicate web of species of plants and insects in our gardens."

[Mikhail Filatov · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author paints a broad picture of network science, including graph theory and multiple applications of network approach to almost any problem.
Unfortunately, as he decided to avoid any formulas it made the book even less understandable, imho.
Also he spent too much time on his autobiography and references to modern culture like “swifties” vs. more serious topics, like money laundering, climate modelling, etc.

[Adrien · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed a lot reading this book and I highly recommand it.
By providing a lot of real life examples and linking them to graphdatascience measures, its make the book very easy to read, follow and - probably the most important thing - pushed your imagination and creativity as it's a very inspiring book.

On my side, it already started to impact the work I produced and made me want learn more.

[Oksana Melnychenko · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dots and Lines is a cool dive into how networks shape everything, written in a way that’s clear and approachable even if you’re not a mathematician like me. I found myself learning a lot while still being entertained, which isn’t easy for a book on math.

[Craig Ham · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book provides a fascinating insight into the influence and role of mathematics of our natural and digital world.

[Li Wei · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading it now and loving this book so far.

[Niall O'Connell · Rating 5 out of 5]

A thoughtful read that stays with you long after you’ve finished.