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 Customer Rating: 4.5 based on 27 reviews)

'Connected' connected for me by John Littlefield (San Antonio, TX)

5 Stars
March 10, 2010
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.

Connected Connects to Readers by Margaret Pretkelis

4 Stars
March 03, 2010
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.

A Brand New Way of Thinking! by Rennta Chrisdiana

4 Stars
February 16, 2010
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?

Makes good connections between demographics, sociology and behavior science by M. McDonald (Chicago, IL United States)

4 Stars
February 11, 2010
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.

Connected by F. Furman

4 Stars
February 10, 2010
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.

SIMILAR PRODUCTS

	Six Degrees: The Science of a Connected Age (Open Market Edition) by Duncan J. Watts (Author) The pioneering young scientist whose work on the structure of small worlds has triggered an avalanche of interest in networks. In this remarkable book, Duncan Watts, one of the principal architects of network theory, sets out to explain the innovative research that he and other scientists are spearheading to create a blueprint of our connected planet. Whether they bind computers, economies, or terrorist organizations, networks are everywhere in the real world, yet only recently have scientists...
	Micromotives and Macrobehavior by Thomas C. Schelling (Author) Before Freakonomics and The Tipping Point there was this classic by the 2005 Nobel Laureate in Economics. "Schelling here offers an early analysis of 'tipping' in social situations involving a large number of individuals."—official citation for the 2005 Nobel Prize Micromotives and Macrobehavior was originally published over twenty-five years ago, yet the stories it tells feel just as fresh today. And the subject of these stories—how small and seemingly meaningless decisions...
	Linked: How Everything Is Connected to Everything Else and What It Means by Albert-Laszlo Barabasi (Author) A cocktail party. A terrorist cell. Ancient bacteria. An international conglomerate. All are networks, and all are a part of a surprising scientific revolution. Albert-László Barabási, the nation's foremost expert in the new science of networks, takes us on an intellectual adventure to prove that social networks, corporations, and living organisms are more similar than previously thought. Grasping a full understanding of network science will someday allow us to design...
	America Transformed: Globalization, Inequality, and Power by Gary Hytrek (Author), Kristine M. Zentgraf (Author) In this book, a key question is discussed: what is the effect of globalization on societal level inequality? Intended for undergraduates, the book investigates the links between global processes and shifting patterns of stratification, inequality, and social mobility. Most books directed at undergraduates tend to separate discussions of micro-level processes (finding work, e.g.), or macro-level processes (shifting economic structures, e.g.), or global inequality (between societies) without...
	Bursts: The Hidden Pattern Behind Everything We Do by Albert-Laszlo Barabasi (Author) A revolutionary new theory showing how we can predict human behavior-from a radical genius and bestselling author Can we scientifically predict our future? Scientists and pseudo scientists have been pursuing this mystery for hundreds and perhaps thousands of years. But now, astonishing new research is revealing patterns in human behavior previously thought to be purely random. Precise, orderly, predictable patterns... Albert Laszlo Barabasi, already the world's preeminent...