Weak Links: Stabilizers of Complex Systems from Proteins to Social Networks (The Frontiers Collectio

Description

Weak Links: Stabilizers of Complex Systems from Proteins to Social Networks (The Frontiers Collection)

Publisher: Springer
Number Of Pages: 410
Publication Date: 2006-04-28
Sales Rank: 361109
ISBN / ASIN: 3540311513
EAN: 9783540311515
Binding: Hardcover
Manufacturer: Springer
Studio: Springer
Average Rating: 5

Why do women stabilize our societies? Why can we enjoy and understand Shakespeare? Why are fruitflies uniform? Why do omnivorous eating habits aid our survival? Why is Mona Lisa¡¯s smile beautiful? ¨C Is there any answer to these questions? This book shows that the statement: "weak links stabilize complex systems" holds the answers to all of the surprising questions above. The author (recipient of several distinguished science communication prizes) uses weak (low affinity, low probability) interactions as a thread to introduce a vast variety of networks from proteins to ecosystems. Many people, from Nobel Laureates to high-school students have helped to make the book understandable to all interested readers. This unique book and the ideas it develops will have a significant impact on many, seemingly diverse, fields of study.

Review:

Primer on real-life networks with a theme

If you ever needed another good reason to value your grandmother even more, you'll find the answer in "Weak links".

Structurally, his book starts with an exposition on network theory and
terminology, then the application and discussion of these concepts to
real-life complex systems on many scales and applied to many domains (physical, natural, technological, social). His main point is, as the reviewer noted above, that 'weak' links (weak: additional/removal does not statistically affect the average of some metric) stabilize systems.

The book has thorough footnotes, one can delve as deep as one would like
into the professional papers. In addition, Csermely is an honest scholar - he shows his hands when there is mere speculation (you have to see the book's unique pictograms to appreciate the effects)

After pouring through several alternatives, I have adopted this book as a
textbook for my Science of Networks class (I'm CS fac at an elite US liberal arts school), and I recommend it to anyone without hesitation for a readable, and learned exposition.

I only have two or three caveats from a specialist's point of view: The
phenomenological discovery of power laws in complex systems is not unusual
and may not be evidence of any SF properties. Scale-free is an abused
term, and I wish the controversy about it were explained a bit more. Also, from a modelling point of view, I wish Doyle and Carlson's work on HOT systems were discussed in more depth.

But these are minor points, relatively speaking. This is a gem of a book:
erudite, humane, funny, accessible and thoroughly fascinating. On every
page, there are delights that lead down new intellectual paths.

Csermely did a great service to pedagogy and to this budding science with
this magisterial survey. Outstanding in its ease of access for intelligent
undergraduates and commendable for intellectual honesty - I wish more
books (textbooks and otherwise) were written this way.

http://rapidshare.com/files/39555138/Weak.Links-Stabilizers.of.Complex.Systems.from.Proteins.to.Social.Networks-3540311513.pdf

http://mihd.net/h1cq5l

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