10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good text for technical readers, July 21, 2008
This review is from: Random Graph Dynamics (Cambridge Series in Statistical and Probabilistic Mathematics) (Hardcover)
The author presents very interesting material and I really learned a lot from reading this book. I've read a lot of texts and papers on the subject of random graphs (both technical and for the general public) and most authors do a good job in making this subject interesting and enjoyable, but often lack a rigorous presentation of the subject. In that sense Durrett's book does an excellent job in providing this missing element from other books. On the negative side, the exposition in Durrett' s book is not self-contained and the author relies too much on the notation and results from his previously published books. If you don't have those books the reading pace will be seriously hampered. Also, in trying to motivate the subject in Chapter 1, the author introduces a lot of cryptic notation and concepts that are not explained until later on. I know this is supposed to be a monograph, but at least the author should try to live up to the series mission of providing a clear presentation of the subjects. In summary, a great book if you are already familiar with the subject and are fairly mathematical sophisticated, but don't use this book as an introductory text or to get motivation on the subject.
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