Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape… (utgåvan 2009)

Overall this is a book worth reading. It provides genuinely interesting insights with potentially far reaching implications for society and arguably for each of us as individuals. In my mind it's worth considering the world through this lens.

The book is made of many examples of studies which show how social networks work, how we influence each other, how ideas are spread, how that links to how diseases are spread and so on.

Some of the conclusions from these studies are in line with what one would expect, but most other small or greater insights into networks that I think most of us wouldn't have considered. One of the primary assertions of the book is that we influence and are influenced by people we don't know (friends of friends). There is a lot of exploration of the importance of networks to human beings, generally we sacrifice some independence to cooperate with others for our protection and well being. Also challenged is the traditional economist view of self-interest as opposed to altruism. The point being, again, that we value relationships with others beyond what is economically in our interests. The idea that we give to others purely in the anticipation of a favour returned is challenged as not representing the whole picture of what motivates us.

The weakness of the book is mainly its structure. The series of ideas and the studies that support them feel more like a collections of themed thoughts than a progressive series of arguments and evidence that lead to an undeniable conclusion. That said, still an interesting read. ( )

A nice overview of research on social networks and how they affect the patterns and dynamics of the distribution of a huge variety of things, such as infectious disease, smoking and voting practices. It also looks at the effects of technology (particularly email and social-networking sites) on our networks. It's pretty light on the maths but explains core concepts clearly and with a lot of diagrams, and has a ton of citations to papers, books and newspaper articles should you wish to dig deeper into any of the topics covered. ( )

https://www.amazon.de/dp/3100113500/?tag=inspired-by-beraterwiki-21 ( )

very statistical, acturial and for the most part boring.

very statistical, acturial and for the most part boring.