Product Description

Everyone knows the small-world phenomenon: soon after meeting a stranger, we are surprised to discover that we have a mutual friend, or we are connected through a short chain of acquaintances. This text provides an exploration of what conditions a small world can arise under in any kind of network.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1099501 in Books
• Published on: 1999-09-27
• Format: Illustrated
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 266 pages

Customer Reviews

Rewarding, but not easy, reading
Watts' innovative study of the small world phenomena has helped to revitalise this field of research, which had until recently been considered trivial in academic circles, material for anecdotes, rather than an important feature of network organisation. Watts shows how and why networks can be organised along small world principles, with examples as diverse as the spread of diseases (or gossip) through a population, the connectivity of worm's neural structures, and, infamously, the Kevin Bacon Game. While the book starts at a gentle pace, the mathematical detail soon becomes fairly dense, especially for those with little post-school mathematical training. However, the reader's perseverance is rewarded by Watts, who has provided a range of applications of small world theory, making this a must for anyone planning to study network organisation.