Nexus
"As Chaos explained the science of disorder, Nexus reveals the new science of connection and the odd logic of six degrees of separation.". "How can geometry explain the puzzles of human behavior? In this incisive insightful work Mark Buchanan 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. Buchanan documents mounting support for the small-worlds idea and demonstrates its multiple applications to diverse problems - whether explaining the volatile global economy or the Human Genome Project, the spread of infectious disease or ecological damage. Nexus is an exciting introduction to the hidden geometry that weaves our lives so inextricably together."--BOOK JACKET.
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- Also excellent from the same author:
http://www.amazon.com/Ubiquity-Catastrophes-Happen-Mark-Buch...
http://www.amazon.com/Nexus-Worlds-Groundbreaking-Science-Ne...
- There's also stuff under "Network theory"[1] at Wikipedia. I feel like those two articles should probably be merged, but it hasn't happened yet, and I haven't had time to take a stab at it. But anyway, both articles contain some useful info.
I also recommend these few books as a good starting point:
Network Science: Theory and Applications[2]
Linked: How Everything Is Connected to Everything Else and What It Means[3]
Six Degrees: The Science of a Connected Age[4]
The Wisdom of Crowds[5]
Nexus: Small Worlds and the Groundbreaking Science of Networks[6]
Diffusion of Innovations[7]
Of course - being that Network Science is a multidisciplinary field, that touches a lot of other areas - it can be hard to get a handle on what to study. But those few books - between them - cover a lot of the basics and would give somebody who's interested in this stuff enough background to figure out where to start digging deeper.
For a little bit more on the technical side, a couple of good resources at:
Introductory Graph Theory[8]
Introduction to Graph Theory[9]
Algorithms in Java: Part 5 - Graph Algorithms[10]
[1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_theory
[2]: http://www.amazon.com/Network-Science-Applications-Ted-Lewis...
[3]: http://www.amazon.com/Linked-Everything-Connected-Else-Means...
[4]: http://www.amazon.com/Six-Degrees-Science-Connected-Edition/...
[5]: http://www.amazon.com/The-Wisdom-Crowds-James-Surowiecki/dp/...
[6]: http://www.amazon.com/Nexus-Worlds-Groundbreaking-Science-Ne...
[7]: http://www.amazon.com/Diffusion-Innovations-5th-Everett-Roge...
[8]: http://www.amazon.com/Introductory-Graph-Theory-Gary-Chartra...
[9]: http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Graph-Theory-Dover-Mathem...
[10]: http://www.amazon.com/Algorithms-Java-Part-Graph-Pt-5/dp/020...
- This makes me remember a passage I read in Nexus by Mark Buchanan (good book, read it!), where someone did an experiment to try to find the root of "the rich get richer". They construct a simulation of an economy, seed the participants in it with a random amount of money, and let it run for "a long time".
They end up with a distrubution of wealth that is very similar to what we see in the real world. The moral of the story: random chance will create the structure we're seeing in real life; being rich isn't proof that you're "better" than everyone else (supply your own definition of good), it's just as or more likely that you happened to be at the right place at the right time.
- 1) Musashi's Book of Five Rings 2) Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People 3) Machaivelli's The Prince 4) Sun-Tzu's The Art of War 5) Hayakawa's Language in Thought and Action 6) Steven Johnson's Emergence 7) Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs, and Steel 8) Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything 9) Mark Buchanan's Nexus 10) C. S. Lewis's The Problem of Pain
Taken together, these books cover just about everything there is to know about the sciences, about human history, human nature and how to understand and communicate effectively with other people. Only one other book besides these needs to be studied/read: The Bible.
