Topics

Scale-free Networks: Complex Webs in Nature and Technology

20 October 2008

By Guido Caldarelli, Oxford University Press. Hardback ISBN 9780199211517, £49.95 ($115).

51jd49H1w3L._SX351_BO1,204,203,200_

This book presents the experimental evidence for scale-free networks and provides students and researchers with theoretical results and algorithms to analyse and understand these features. A variety of different social, natural and technological systems – from the Internet to food webs and boards of company directors – can be described by the same mathematical framework. In all these situations a graph of the elements of the system and their interconnections displays a universal feature: there are few elements with many connections, and many elements with few connections. The content and exposition make this a useful textbook for beginners, as well as a reference book for experts in a variety of disciplines.

bright-rec iop pub iop-science physcis connect