The Square and the Tower

Networks and Power, from the Freemasons to Facebook

De: Niall Ferguson

Narrado por: Elliot Hill

A brilliant recasting of the turning points in world history, including the one we're living through, as a collision between old power hierarchies and new social networks

Most history is hierarchical: it's about emperors, presidents, prime ministers, and field marshals. It's about states, armies, and corporations. It's about orders from on high. Even history "from below" is often about trade unions and workers' parties. But what if that's simply because hierarchical institutions create the archives that historians rely on? What if we are missing the informal, less well documented social networks that are the true sources of power and drivers of change?

The 21st century has been hailed as the Age of Networks. However, in The Square and the Tower, Niall Ferguson argues that networks have always been with us, from the structure of the brain to the food chain, from the family tree to freemasonry. Throughout history, hierarchies housed in high towers have claimed to rule, but often real power has resided in the networks in the town square below. For it is networks that tend to innovate. And it is through networks that revolutionary ideas can contagiously spread. Just because conspiracy theorists like to fantasize about such networks doesn't mean they are not real.

From the cults of ancient Rome to the dynasties of the Renaissance, from the founding fathers to Facebook, The Square and the Tower tells the story of the rise, fall, and rise of networks, and shows how network theory - concepts such as clustering, degrees of separation, weak ties, contagions, and phase transitions - can transform our understanding of both the past and the present.

Just as The Ascent of Money put Wall Street into historical perspective, so The Square and the Tower does the same for Silicon Valley. And it offers a bold prediction about which hierarchies will withstand this latest wave of network disruption - and which will be toppled.

©2018 Niall Ferguson (P)2018 Penguin Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

“Captivating and compelling. Whether describing the surprisingly ineffective 18th century network of the mysterious Illuminati that continue to be the subject of crank conspiracy theorists or the shockingly effective 20th century network of Cambridge University spies working for the Soviets, Ferguson manages both to tell a good story and provide important insight into the specific qualities that power successful networks.” (The New York Times)

“Remarkably interesting...always surprising and always thought-provoking in the places and entities it chooses to pause and examine, everything from the Mafia to the Soviet Union of Stalin.... The Square and the Tower, in addition to being provocative history, may prove to be a bellwether work of the Internet Age.” (Christian Science Monitor)

"Niall Ferguson has again written a brilliant book.... His short chapters are lucid snapshots of a world history of Towers and Squares, filled with gracefully deployed learning.... The Square and the Tower is always readable, intelligent, original. You can swallow a chapter a night before sleep and your dreams will overflow with scenes of Stendhal’s The Red and the Black, Napoleon, Kissinger. In 400 pages you will have restocked your mind. Do it." (The Wall Street Journal)

Flawed but entertaining and thought provoking

Others have pointed out this is not thorough enough to be considered a historical reference and I agree. However if taken as a entertaining and thought provoking means of changing the readers paradigm regarding several well known historical events then I think it succeeds. There is a lot left out of this book to be sure, but in simplifying the network/ hierarchies, their components, and effects, it makes it accessible to people like me. In my experience this is what Ferguson does well.

Outstanding, dense and engaging!

Nial Ferguson is perhaps my favorite modern day historian and he never fails to deliver a vivid picture of his writing.

Good history but...

... but the author never extrapolates on the effects of each of the networks he highlights throughout the book.

Leaves you hungry for more insight.

Average Niall

One inch of depth on a defining topic. Niall is a literary Lamphrey on the Great White of events. His wit is better suited to morning shows than long form—which he tends to squander with repetition and consensus conclusions. Listen on 2.5x — 3x, you won’t miss anything useful.

Social networks in history

Ferguson is a good story teller. Fascinating look into social network impacts on history. Good companion to other popular reading in sociology.

excellent reading

excellent reading, insightful and a real eye opener!! a must to read. no more words

Not sure what to say.

Full disclosure, I think Ferguson is one of the best historians alive today and has done excellent work. This one I don't think fits the category. The whole book feels like it is made up of the bits and bobs that didn't quite make it into some of his other work, and leaves you feeling like you watched a "clip show" of a long-running TV series, or he was trying to squeeze out a book based off an amalgam of his other works. It also tends to read like one of those "Good to Great" type business management books, so the reader can't tell if it's history, or history cherry-picked to support a management style.

If you are reading it for a history of the Illumnati or Freemasons, you are going to be disappointed.

That being said there are some genuinely good sections of this book (Cambridge Spy-Ring, the Kissinger section, the Lehman Bro's bankruptcy, and the Malay Emergency), but most of the other sections leave you wanting more. Another review said "Good facts but no real insight" and I would tend to agree.

His contrast of Hierarchies vs Networks is interesting, but never seems to really go anywhere beyond the identification.

Overall a good if not great book, a solid C work. I would recommend passing on this one and going to one of his other works.

Exceptional.

A tour de force of the the history of networks and hierarchies. A must read.

This book gave me ADD

I love Nial Ferguson, but this has to be one of his poorest works. I understand that he's trying to weave and connect all these different institutions, people and situations throughout history with the underlying theme of the importance of networks in major world events, BUT the topics are so disparate and random, you end up feeling like you're just nibling and never get to the real meat on any of them.
As soon as you're getting into one of the chapter's central ideas, you're on to the next without you even noticing half the time. As an example, the writing literally went from talking about Stalin to Pewdiepie (yes , the YouTube gamer) in a few chapters.

I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone as it's really long, yet you end up feeling short changed and unfulfilled.

History from a different focus

Niall Ferguson writes a style that is lively, interesting and informative without being stuffy. What he has to say makes you think and strive to read more of both his publications and other historians. In my case they give me a soundness and provoke thinking in a time when reality TV stars get to be president and our society continues bring dumbed dow.