Nexus: Small Worlds and the Groundbreaking Theory of Networks
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
As Chaos explained the science of disorder, Nexus reveals the new science of connection and the odd logic of six degrees of separation.
"If you ever wanted to know how many links connect you and the Pope, or why when the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank sneezes the global economy catches cold, read this book," writes John L. Casti (Santa Fe Institute). This "cogent and engaging" (Nature) work presents the fundamental principles of the emerging field of "small-worlds" theory—the idea that a hidden pattern is the key to how networks interact and exchange information, whether that network is the information highway or the firing of neurons in the brain. Mathematicians, physicists, computer scientists, and social scientists are working to decipher this complex organizational system, for it may yield a blueprint of dynamic interactions within our physical as well as social worlds.
Highlighting groundbreaking research behind network theory, "Mark Buchanan's graceful, lucid, nontechnical and entertaining prose" (Mark Granovetter) documents the mounting support among various disciplines for the small-worlds idea and demonstrates its practical applications to diverse problems—from the volatile global economy or the Human Genome Project to the spread of infectious disease or ecological damage. Nexus is an exciting introduction to the hidden geometry that weaves our lives so inextricably together.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A kabob-shop owner in Frankfurt finds through a network of acquaintances that the social distance between himself and Marlon Brando really is only the fabled six degrees of separation. Meanwhile, a mathematician randomly distributes 150 letters in Kansas with the instructions that they be sent to a broker in Boston, without revealing the broker's address; remarkably, the letters that make it arrive in six steps or less. Thus, author Buchanan, a science writer and former Nature editor, introduces readers to the dynamics of networks and shows how these networks affect behaviors in both the natural and the social world. Armed with conceptual mathematics, Buchanan goes in search of all kinds of "small-world" networks and finds the same patterns taking shape in food chains, in the neuronal networks of insects, in the architecture of the Internet and in the cultural backgrounds of elite CEOs. The world, in short, is moved by shifts and adjustments in these tiny worlds. Capitalizing on this knowledge, he argues, might reveal, e.g., why the rich get richer, why the Internet functions smoothly and how small-world networks can combat the spread of AIDS. Buchanan's ability as an affable, easygoing storyteller makes up for myriad digressions, and the narrative is, at times, spellbinding. Unfortunately, it takes scores of pages before the author addresses how his concepts might be used in the real world. Readers may still be left wondering just what the practical implications are of these complex and elegant mathematical models.
