Customer Reviews

Theories of Communication Networks

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I think is is a very good book and very effectively highlights the various socio-coginitve issues that are prevalent in communications. The theories could be applied to form new networks or to improve the strength of existing networks. The most prominent feature of the book is that it convincingly draws relationship between diffrent types of theories present in other disciplines ranging from Complexity theory to chaos theory. I wish the book had more illustrations and graphical examples. The format of the book is monotonous. But overall it certainly deserves 5 stars.

This book is a good description of various approaches to the wide topic of social network-related theories (not social network theories as in SNA).

All chapters (except the last) are a reasonable, literature-rich investigations drawing on different theoretical perspectives of "communication networks". The last chapter is where the authors try to put everyting together, and in my opinion partially fail in doing so. Conclusion is correct and intuitive, yet somehow trivial: thinking about communication networks requires multilevel and multitheoretical approach.

On the pros side: rich literature review, many sources cited. The content is dense.

to which all other books written about network communications should be measured. Incredibly intelligent, thoroughly engagaging, this reader picked up this book out of curiosity, and was completely in awe of the complexity of networking. This book does a beautiful job of combining inferential statistics with dynamic theory. You will not want to put this down; this reader called in sick to work in order to finish the book. If you are going to own one book about networking, it should be this book. Seriously.

The book covers many interesting things, but the organization of the topics needs a lot of improvement.

Pros:

(1) Covers a lot of theories that you will find interesting, if you are working on network-related studies.

(2) Hands-on, step-by-step guidelines on how to use PSPAR program to do p* modeling.

Cons:

(1) The Table of Contents should be a lot more detailed. At least include the subsections. Every time I tried to find something that I read earlier, it takes a long time.

(2) Need more subsections within the chapters.

(3) Applying the ERGM model - I hope the authors have plans to update the book using more state-of-the-art programs like Statnet. PSPAR might be good but hasn't been updated for a long time.

Overall, I think it's good to keep as a reference. The MTML (Multi-thoeretical, multi-level) approach that they propose makes sense, but it just leaves you a feeling that they are trying to say a lot of things but didn't quite accomplish that. If they are stronger on the application part (i.e. how to actually model your data) with good software, it would have been much more helpful.

I bought this book on the recommendation of a colleague. Unusually for me it has taken many months to read, and I have found it a hard slog - I simply could not maintain my interest. The content is dense and at times challenging.

The authors bring together several theories to come up with an integrative framework to research communication networks. By combining several approaches they seek to move from descriptive and exploratory techniques to inferential and confirmatory models - this was the attraction of the book for me; unfortunately in the end I wasn't completely convinced. That said I do agree that networks should be examined on multiple levels and that a multi-theoretical approach has considerable merit.

Given networks lend themselves to visual analysis I was disappointed with the lack of explanatory diagrams in the book - in my view this is a major weakness that could easily be rectified in future editions. Complete beginners may find some of the inferential statistics daunting, but I think they are essential to the argument. I'm not a mathematician so at times I found myself reading the book in parallel with a mathematics text.
So all in all I would give the book a four-star rating - three stars for readability and five stars for a novel approach to network research. It has a place on the bookshelf of every serious student of network analysis.

Regards, Graham

For me this is the best book available if you are looking for theories and a clear and practical description of quantitative research and analysis methods that you can use for expanding your own understanding of communication in networks. The book's value has only increased with the many recent developments in software for analyzing communication networks. It is a must read now for anyone interested in communication networks.

If you like the most boring, theoretical read...go for it. Actually, I found this book a great non-addictive substitute for sleeping aids. I could only recommend it to someone with insomnia.