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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #275668 in Books
• Published on: 2004-03-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 368 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
You may be only six degrees away from Kevin Bacon, but would he lend you his car? It depends on the network that links you. In 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

Independent on Sunday
The insights here are fairly mind-blowing

Synopsis
Combining a historical survey of the field with real-world examples, this book sets out to explain the research being done to create a blueprint of our connected planet, and shows how a multidiciplinary science of networks has come into being.

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Customer Reviews

More of a diary
Ok i knew that its not a network theory book just to clear things. What i didnt like is that im still confused,are small-world networks scale-free? are social networks scale-free?
This book hasnt made it clear only more confusing.

For more reviews check the US site.

This book is a diary of Duncan and his attempts to publish, walking in the park with some professor etc..
It got annoying as Duncan keeps going on, why didnt i think of this and that, and rushes into trying to publish something for the sake of publishing.
Its enjoyable maybe as a diary but tiring sometimes as you need to go through and hand pick what you need to remember, not to mention that i kept jumping back and forth as 'words' plainly put during his 'walk in the park' are used later on somewhere just dumped there.

oh and im still reading it. I just went through another one of his im trying to publish it first "fortunately Jon is almost generous as he is smart and he agreed to sit on the details of our discussion for a few months to give us a chance to publish something first." another case " there wasnt too much time to get our act together"(refering to publishing again). And others too.

He goes on about Barabasi and Albert publishing something insted of him because, he never checked, but it was simple(because he didnt think about it) only if he had checked blah blah. Well thats the idea of 'idea' they did check he didnt think about it thats it.

Anyway check the US site you'll find some comments like mine. It cheap though now, so just buy it cause then again it is the guy who 'formalized' the small-world phenomenon.
Summary:
1) Like the writing (even though like a diary).
2) Hate him going on about publishing not the science.
3) Confuses, but you get something eventually.

Hope it helps.

Duncan's book is nice to read as literature perhaps...and its fun when you dont really want the network theory, but as for network theory i wouldnt get this book.

Science of Interconnectedness
The author calls the science of networks a science of real people, where stuff like friendships, rumours, diseases, fashion and music trends, commerce and finance are all involved. He explains how this science fits into the larger scheme of scientific progress and what it tells us about the world in our connected age.

The book really covers two narratives: The history and development of the science of networks itself, plus the manifestation of network phenomena in the real world.
Chapters 2 to 5 investigate real world networks, chapters 3 to 5 consider the creation and implication of various models of networked systems, whilst chapters six (Epidemics and Failures), seven (Decisions, Delusions and the Madness of Crowds), eight (Thresholds, Cascades and Predictability) and nine (Innovation, Adaptation and Recovery) explore the spread of diseases, recovery, fads, politics, finance and organizational strength.

Some of the lessons of this thought-provoking book are that distance is deceptive and that in connected systems, cause and effect are related in complicated and sometimes misleading ways. In the latter regard, Watts discusses the many initial rejections that Kerouac's later very popular classic On The Road had to endure and the similar case of Rowling's first Harry Potter book.

The Further Reading section is arranged by chapter and provides recommendations of websites and books on that particular topic. The text contains tables, figures and some black and white illustrations and the book concludes with a bibliography and index. The Hidden Connections by Fritjof Capra and Small World by Mark Buchanan are similar books that I have found to be interesting and informative in this regard

Omnipresent networks explained
The author calls the science of networks a science of real people, where stuff like friendships, rumours, diseases, fashion and music trends, commerce and finance are all involved. He explains how this science fits into the larger scheme of scientific progress and what it tells us about the world in our connected age. The book really covers two narratives: The history and development of the science of networks itself, plus the manifestation of network phenomena in the real world.

Chapters 2 to 5 investigate real world networks, chapters 3 to 5 consider the creation and implication of various models of networked systems, whilst chapters six (Epidemics and Failures), seven (Decisions, Delusions and the Madness of Crowds), eight (Thresholds, Cascades and Predictability) and nine (Innovation, Adaptation and Recovery) explore the spread of diseases, recovery, fads, politics, finance and organizational strength.

Some of the lessons of this thought-provoking book are that distance is deceptive and that in connected systems, cause and effect are related in complicated and sometimes misleading ways. In the latter regard, Watts discusses the many initial rejections that Kerouac's later very popular classic On The Road had to endure and the similar case of Rowling's first Harry Potter book.

The Further Reading section is arranged by chapter and provides recommendations of websites and books on that particular topic. The text contains tables, figures and some black and white illustrations and the book concludes with a bibliography and index. The Hidden Connections by Fritjof Capra and Small World by Mark Buchanan are similar books that I have found to be interesting and informative in this regard.