Six Degrees: The Science of a Connected Age
Encyclopedia
Six Degrees: the science of a connected age (2004 in paperback, ISBN 0-393-32542-3 and 2003 in hardcover, ISBN 0-393-04142-5) is a popular science book by Duncan J. Watts
covering the application of network theory
to sociology
.
The book covers Watts' own work on the small-world networks, and continues on to cover scale-free network
s, network searching, epidemic
s and network failures, social decision making, thresholds in networks, and innovation in large organizations.
In addition to covering the theoretical models and empirical case studies, the book also includes several stories about the character of the researchers who developed this science and their relationships with each other.
The case studies used include blackouts in the North American electricity distribution network, the relationships among members of corporate boards of directors, the distribution of wealth in societies, peer-to-peer file distribution systems, Internet viruses, economic bubble
s, and the Toyota-Aisin crisis.
Duncan J. Watts
Duncan J. Watts is an Australian researcher and a principal research scientist at Yahoo! Research, where he directs the Human Social Dynamics group. He is also a past external faculty member of the Santa Fe Institute and a former professor of sociology at Columbia University, where he headed the...
covering the application of network theory
Network theory
Network theory is an area of computer science and network science and part of graph theory. It has application in many disciplines including statistical physics, particle physics, computer science, biology, economics, operations research, and sociology...
to sociology
Sociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
.
The book covers Watts' own work on the small-world networks, and continues on to cover scale-free network
Scale-free network
A scale-free network is a network whose degree distribution follows a power law, at least asymptotically. That is, the fraction P of nodes in the network having k connections to other nodes goes for large values of k as...
s, network searching, epidemic
Epidemic
In epidemiology, an epidemic , occurs when new cases of a certain disease, in a given human population, and during a given period, substantially exceed what is expected based on recent experience...
s and network failures, social decision making, thresholds in networks, and innovation in large organizations.
In addition to covering the theoretical models and empirical case studies, the book also includes several stories about the character of the researchers who developed this science and their relationships with each other.
The case studies used include blackouts in the North American electricity distribution network, the relationships among members of corporate boards of directors, the distribution of wealth in societies, peer-to-peer file distribution systems, Internet viruses, economic bubble
Economic bubble
An economic bubble is "trade in high volumes at prices that are considerably at variance with intrinsic values"...
s, and the Toyota-Aisin crisis.