Join Amazon Prime and ship Two-Day for free and Overnight for $3.99. Already a member? Sign in.

 

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
   
More Buying Choices
42 used & new from $6.70

Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
   
Tell a Friend
Nexus: Small Worlds and the Groundbreaking Theory of Networks
 
 
Are You an Author or Publisher?
Find out how to publish your own Kindle Books
 
  

Nexus: Small Worlds and the Groundbreaking Theory of Networks (Paperback)

by Mark Buchanan (Author) "FORTY- ONE YEARS AGO, at the height of the Cold War, the philosopher Karl Popper published a short anti-Marxist volume entitled The Poverty of Historicisrn..." (more)
Key Phrases: aristocratic kind, billion dots, random links, United States, World Wide Web, Kevin Bacon (more...)
4.3 out of 5 stars  (34 customer reviews)

List Price: $15.95
Price: $10.85 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
You Save: $5.10 (32%)
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.

Want it delivered Monday, July 28? Choose One-Day Shipping at checkout. See details

42 used & new available from $6.70
Also Available in: List Price: Our Price: Other Offers:
Hardcover (1st) 37 used & new from $5.36
 
   

Better Together

Buy this book with Linked: How Everything Is Connected to Everything Else and What It Means by Albert-Laszlo Barabasi today!

Nexus: Small Worlds and the Groundbreaking Theory of Networks Linked: How Everything Is Connected to Everything Else and What It Means
Buy Together Today: $21.05

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Six Degrees: The Science of a Connected Age (Open Market Edition)

Six Degrees: The Science of a Connected Age (Open Market Edition) by Duncan J. Watts

4.4 out of 5 stars (30)  $12.21
Sync: How Order Emerges from Chaos in the Universe, Nature, and Daily Life

Sync: How Order Emerges from Chaos in the Universe, Nature, and Daily Life by Steven H. Strogatz

4.5 out of 5 stars (56)  $10.17
Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software

Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software by Steven Johnson

3.4 out of 5 stars (81)  $10.20
The Social Atom: Why the Rich Get Richer, Cheaters Get Caught, and Your Neighbor Usually Looks Like You

The Social Atom: Why the Rich Get Richer, Cheaters Get Caught, and Your Neighbor Usually Looks Like You by Mark Buchanan

3.7 out of 5 stars (14)  $16.47
Small Worlds: The Dynamics of Networks between Order and Randomness (Princeton Studies in Complexity)

Small Worlds: The Dynamics of Networks between Order and Randomness (Princeton Studies in Complexity) by Duncan J. Watts

3.3 out of 5 stars (7)  $29.95
Explore similar items : Books (100)

Editorial Reviews
From Library Journal
Will a network science emerge that helps us understand a variety of complex organizational systems by describing the puzzles of human behavior and connections in mathematical terms? So argues Buchanan, former editor of Nature and New Scientist. Buchanan, who holds a Ph.D. in physics, delivers a good introduction to theoretical physics and the "small worlds" theory of networks. He sees biology, computer science, physics, and sociology as intimately connected. Buchanan illustrates social and physical networks with examples ranging from the infamous "six degrees of separation" theories, to the spread of the AIDS virus, to the mapping of the nervous system of the nematode worm. Are the similarities among these networks merely a coincidence or the result of some underlying physics? Only further research will tell, but in the meantime this book is a good primer to basic network concepts and contains references to key journal articles and studies for further reading. The subject will be of particular interest to mathematicians, physicists, and computer scientists and of general interest to those in most other disciplines. Recommended for academic and larger public libraries. Colleen Cuddy, Ehrman Medical Lib., NYU Sch. of Medicine
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist
Coincidence is the current focus of modish mathematical investigation. Kicked off, according to Buchanan, by a 1998 paper published in Nature, research on the nature of coincidence posits that deep-seated principles order huge, seemingly inchoate assemblies of objects. According to these conjectured principles, any member of a gigantic assembly of similar members (say of six billion human beings) can connect with any other member in astonishingly few steps. The idea seems ubiquitous, cropping up in food chains, the cell, neural networks, disease propagation, or electrical power grids--all arenas explored by Buchanan. This connection of objects in a set, dubbed "small worlds," comes in two "flavors": egalitarian networks and aristocratic networks, an example of the latter being the Internet. These are very interesting concepts, but before diving in, readers will want to know what they might get from Buchanan's presentation of various mathematicians' papers. Intimating that a small-worlds perspective might reveal the workings of economics as well as biology and ecology, Buchanan points up the relevance of his investigation. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details
  • Paperback: 238 pages
  • Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company (June 2003)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0393324427
  • ISBN-13: 978-0393324426
  • Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: