Linked

The New Science of Networks

By: Albert-Laszlo Barabasi

Narrated by: Henry Leyva

Length: 8 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's summary

From a cocktail party to a terrorist cell, from an ancient bacteria to an international conglomerate - all are networks, and all are part of a surprising scientific revolution. A maverick group of scientists is discovering that all networks have a deep underlying order and operate according to simple but powerful rules. This knowledge promises to shed light on the spread of fads and viruses, the robustness of ecosystems, the vulnerability of economies - even the future of democracy.

Now, for the first time, a scientist whose own work has transformed the study of "links and nodes" takes us inside the unfolding network revolution. Albert-Laszlo Barabasi traces the fascinating history of connected systems, beginning with mathematician Leonhard Euler's first forays into graph theory in the late 1700s and culminating in biologists' development of cancer drugs based on a new understanding of cellular networks.

Combining narrative flare with sparkling insights, Barabasi introduces us to the myriad modern-day "cartographers" mapping networks in a range of scientific disciplines. Aided by powerful computers, they are proving that social networks, corporations, and cells are more similar than they are different. Their discoveries provide an important new perspective on the interconnected world around us.

Linked reveals how Google came to be the Internet's most popular search engine, how Vernon Jordan's social network affects the entire American economy, what it would take to bring down a terrorist organization like al Qaeda, and why an obscure finding of Einstein's could change the way we look at the networks in our own lives. Understanding the structure and behavior of networks will forever alter our world, allowing us to design the "perfect" business or stop a disease outbreak before it goes global.

Engaging and authoritative, Linked provides an exciting preview of the next century in science.

Also available in print from Perseus Publishing.

©2002 Albert-Laszlo Barabasi
(P)2002 Random House, Inc.

Critic reviews

"A sweeping look at a new and exciting science." (Donald Kennedy, Editor-in-Chief, Science Magazine)

"Captivating.... Linked is a playful, even exuberant romp through an exciting new field." (Time Out New York)

Useful read

Linked is a good review of network theory at just more than an introductory level. I particularly enjoyed the historical review of the developments in the body of knowledge for network theory. The last section, where networks in all aspects of life were examined, was a little long -- where I would have "fast read" or skipped ahead if I had been reading instead of listening, but other than that it was well-narrated and worthwhile.

Hundreds of acedemic papers distilled

There are very few books that tell so much information in such a lucid way. This book is about one of the most important subjects in science and it is written in a way that is amazingly easy to understand. Quite an achievement.

Thank your Albert

This book is both instructive and entertaining. I have continuously recommended it to curious, intelligent, people, who want to know how the laws of networks permeate our lives and physical world. I am listening to it for the third time. RAW

Scientific and great information about networks

If you always wonder how 'small' our world is and how people are all interconnected to each other in this 'web', you will enjoy this book. Full of great real life examples and network theories. Be aware that lots of scientific wording, theories and examples are used in this book.. And if you don't like this type of technicalities, you may get bored and the book probably won't hold your attention.

I have a general science background and I loved this book because it relates our day-to-day network experiences to scientific theories. In special, I think people from the IT industry (or if you're keen on computers and internet) will find this book very interesting as the author uses lots of examples related to this industry.

a new branch of math - very interesting

I'm not a mathematician, but enjoy reading about science and math. I remember being excited about how fractals was a brand new branch of mathematics, started in my adult life.

I was surprised to understand just how pervasive the new branch of network associations is in mathematics.

This book very nicely explains the concepts and gives examples in many areas of the application of this powerful form of math is.

I recommend it to young and old alike - it isn't written in jargon but is expressed in simple English - very nicely done.

Networks, ecology, emergence! Yes please!

I would like to see an updated edition of this book come out soon, one that includes the latest research in protein, gene, and microbiome networks.

In the first few chapters, the author guides the reader through the early decades of research in complexity. When networks were first realized, their connections were thought to be random. However, power laws were discovered to be involved in the emergence of every self organizing system. This was a thrilling insight that has held up in subsequent findings. This means that social networks, personal relationships, protein interactions, economics, gene interactions, cell communication, and so on all work in the same way. Thus research in systems science/networks/complexity/emergence studies (whatever name you want to call it) has been able to uncover fundamental laws by which the world and universe at large operate. That is what makes this book and other like it as important to read as books on the theory of gravity, evolution, heliocentrism, or other truths of nature.

This book might be too elementary for some people who already understand networks and the maths behind them. However, it is still a great read because it is a reminder of how everything is connected and how that presents wonderful problems for humans to solve. We cannot understand disease, economics, behavior, evolution, the cosmos, and so on without trying to understand the underlying networks that connect things together.

My favorite chapter was the chapter on cell, protein, and gene networks. I love how this field has exploded since this book was written. Just this morning, I read a short article about protein networks that reminded me of what I read in this book:

A great history of and intro to network science

Barabasi has been involved in discovering and explaining quite a bit of what we would call network science today. This book is a well written introduction to the field, laying out its short history in plain English. Although I have enjoyed this book after reading some of the published research first. I would probably have gotten more out of the research if I had discovered this book first. In either order, this is a well written and interesting read.

This is just not a book to listen to.

I still get lost listening to this book. Maybe this is one that just has to be read. Some of his ideas are excellent. Others, why bother. Anyway, after three tries as getting some specific information on Deep Learning, I have to admit I either need to go into a quiet place or read the book.

The science behind the art of networking

This is an unashamedly academic book which brings mathematics to bear to teach us all about networks, how they form and what it means to us and the networks we use to achieve what we do with our lives. I enjoyed this work tremendously and endorse it to you to enjoy as well

The best overview of networks that I have found.

I listened to Linked and then went on to read the Tipping Point and Smart Mobs -- two other books on networks / social networks. They often used the same examples, but with less detail. Linked gives a historical perspective that is useful and interesting. I was familiar with the notions of 6-Degrees and 80-20 beforehand, but now understand much better how they relate to one another and when it's appropriate to use them.