Get Free Shipping on orders over $89
Frontiers Collection : The Universal Key to the Stability of Networks and Complex Systems - Peter Csermely

Frontiers Collection

The Universal Key to the Stability of Networks and Complex Systems

By: Peter Csermely

Paperback | 24 June 2009

At a Glance

Paperback


RRP $84.99

$84.75

or 4 interest-free payments of $21.19 with

 or 

Ships in 5 to 10 business days

How can our societies be stabilized in a crisis?  Why can we enjoy and understand Shakespeare? Why are fruitflies uniform? How do omnivorous eating habits aid our survival? What makes the Mona Lisa's smile beautiful? How do women keep our social structures intact? - Could there possibly be a single answer to all these questions? This book shows that the statement: "weak links stabilize complex systems" provides the key to understanding each of these intriguing puzzles, and many more besides. The author, a recipient of several distinguished science communication prizes, explains weak or low probability interactions, and uses them as connecting threads in a vast variety of networks from proteins to ecosystems. This unique book and the ideas it develops will have a significant impact on diverse, seemingly unrelated fields of study.

Industry Reviews
Opinions

"This is an excellent book, which shows the far-reaching consequences of the great variety of weak links. The book has a proper balance between a scientific monograph and a popular approach, and mixes humor with sharp intellect. "Weak Links" is an adventurous, entertainingly eclectic and rich work both for the experts and laymen." (Laszlo-Albert Barabasi, Department of Physics, University of Notre Dame, author of the bestseller book, Linked and the 1999 seminal Science paper on the preferential attachment model of scale-free network topology.)

"You have written a very personal, engaging, and unique book that will appeal to readers and get them thinking." (Steve Strogatz, Dept. of Theoretical and Applied Mathematics, Cornell University, author of Sync and the 1998 seminal Nature paper on small worlds.)

"You have done a great service by making the world of networks understandable and clear. I will use your book in my classes." (Caroline S. Wagner, Center of International Science & Technology Policy, George Washington University, author of several science policy-related books including the an upcoming work on the international collaboration in science)

"This book links an exceptionally large number of areas and gives exciting novel information to both the network experts and the science-orinted general readership." (Tamas Vicsek, Dept. Biological Physics, Eoetvoes University, author of several network-related Nature papers including a method to determine overlapping network modules)

"This masterpiece should serve as an example how science can be discussed. Entertaining yet thought provoking." (Gyoergy Buzsaki, Board of Governors Professor, Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience Rutgers University, a leading expert of neuronal networks)

"You have written a true gem of a book; erudite, humane, funny, accessible and thoroughly fascinating. On every page, I find another delight that makes me smile andleads me down new intellectual paths (weak links again!). Thanks to your thorough footnotes, I can delve as deep as I would like into the professional papers. Outstanding - I wish more books were written this way. I have adopted your book as a textbook for my Science of Networks class, and I will recommend it to anyone who ask without hesitation. You did a great service to pedagogy and to this budding science with this magisterial survey. I really appreciate it and my students will, as well." (Daniel J. Bilar, Computer Science Department, Wellesley College MA, USA)

More in Life Sciences in General

Liars, cheats and copycats : Trickery and deception in nature - James O'Hanlon
The Art of Biodiversity : Artists & Naturalists, 1700â"1900 - Eric Himmel
Gray's Anatomy for Students : 5th Edition - Richard Drake

RRP $167.95

$120.99

28%
OFF
Anatomy & Physiology For Dummies : For Dummies - Erin Odya

RRP $38.95

$26.75

31%
OFF
Swainston's Fishes of Australia : The complete illustrated guide - Roger Swainston
Dopamine Nation : Why our Addiction to Pleasure is Causing us Pain - Dr Anna Lembke
The Dawn of Everything : A New History of Humanity - David Graeber
Behave : The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst - Robert M Sapolsky
Lifespan : Why We Age - and Why We Don't Have To - David Sinclair

RRP $26.99

$22.99

15%
OFF
How To Change Your Mind : New Science of Psychedelics - Michael Pollan
The Complete Fungi : Evolution, Diversity and Ecology - David S. Hibbett
Is a River Alive? - Robert Macfarlane

RRP $26.99

$21.99

19%
OFF
A World Appears : A Journey Into Consciousness - Michael Pollan

RRP $39.99

$31.75

21%
OFF
Music as Medicine : How We Can Harness Its Therapeutic Power - Daniel Levitin
Adaptable : The Surprising Science of Human Diversity - Herman Pontzer
The Ideological Brain : A Radical Science of Susceptible Minds - Leor Zmigrod