Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives

Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives

by: Nicholas A. Christakis, James H. Fowler List Price: $25.99 Amazon.com's Price: $17.15 You Save: $8.84 (34%) as of 03/19/2010 03:51 EDT Used Price: $12.90 Collectible Price: $35.00 Third Party New Price: $13.30 Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours This item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping. Binding: Hardcover Dewey Decimal Number: 302.3 EAN: 9780316036146 ISBN: 0316036145 Label: Little, Brown and Company Manufacturer: Little, Brown and Company Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 352 Publication Date: September 28, 2009 Publisher: Little, Brown and Company Studio: Little, Brown and Company Features: ISBN13: 9780316036146 Condition: NEW Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark. Related Items: Six Degrees: The Science of a Connected Age (Open Market Edition) Micromotives and Macrobehavior Linked: How Everything Is Connected to Everything Else and What It Means America Transformed: Globalization, Inequality, and Power Bursts: The Hidden Pattern Behind Everything We Do see more Alternate Versions: Click to Display Browse for similar items by category: Click to Display Editorial Review: Product Description: Your colleague's husband's sister can make you fat, even if you don't know her. A happy neighbor has more impact on your happiness than a happy spouse. These startling revelations of how much we truly influence one another are revealed in the studies of Drs. Christakis and Fowler, which have repeatedly made front-page news nationwide. In CONNECTED, the authors explain why emotions are contagious, how health behaviors spread, why the rich get richer, even how we find and choose our partners. Intriguing and entertaining, CONNECTED overturns the notion of the individual and provides a revolutionary paradigm-that social networks influence our ideas, emotions, health, relationships, behavior, politics, and much more. It will change the way we think about every aspect of our lives. Customer Reviews Average Rating: Rating: - 'Connected' connected for me I am thoroughly enjoying the book. It is easy to read, but has numerous back-up citations for further study, as a scholarly book should have. Rating: - Connected Connects to Readers Your friend's friend's friends can cause you to gain weight, become happy or stop smoking. They can also get you to vote or spend money - even if you don't know them. As Nicholas A. Christakis, M.D., Ph.D. and James H. Fowler Ph.D. reveal in their insightful and thorough book, Connected, there is much to be gained in examining the construction, development and influence of our social networks. Delving into physical and virtual social networks, the authors explore the purpose and power behind networks and how they are vital in understanding and addressing such global concerns as inequality, health epidemics and the economy. The book also brings the focus to a more personal level - examining just how people three degrees from someone else are used to find jobs, spouses and connect to others. While the book is informative and well-researched, it is sporadically dense and repetitive but remains overall, worth the reader's time and energy. Rating: - A Brand New Way of Thinking! I never thought network can be so powerful, until I read this book and adore it! How I feel, what I wear, food I ate etc get influenced by my neighbor, my sister, my sister friend etc. The most interesting part, is the possibility of shaping our own network. We are the center of our universe....we can choose who will be in our personal network. Be wise who we befriended with..otherwise one bad apples in our network will spread the worm to the whole networks member. Facebook for example one bad comment or picture will spread to the whole people in the planet to see...how?...the network! So who's in your network? Rating: - Makes good connections between demographics, sociology and behavior science Christakis and Flower have created a unique book that straddles a number of different subjects and genres. They have created a book that applies research about social networks to explain a range of issues and phenomenon. The book is well structured and while a little verbose and repetitive it was an informative and comprehensive book. The first part of the book concentrates on describing the structure and mechanics of social networks. The first 60 pages or so establish the framework for the rest of the book. This part of the book is applicable to a wide range of readers, from business people looking to understand social networks, to social scientist and others. The rest of the book discusses the application of social networks on topics as wide ranging as how you met your spouse, the transmission of sexual disease, teen suicide and others. These sections are well written, researched and balanced. In this regard the authors are to be commended, as the topics other authors would exploit these sensitive subject in gladwellian fashion. The book gets four stars in my opinion in part because the book is a little long and repetitive and could have focused more on how social networks can be solutions than describing social networks in these situations. This book is not a business book, its not entirely a sociology book. It is a good discussion of how social systems change society. A recommended read. Rating: - Connected The book takes everyday concepts and makes you think of them in new ways, and opens your eyes to issues that you never thought of before. It reminds me of Freakonomics in that it draws parallels between occurrences that seem unrelated. see more