Rating: 
Summary: A Great Book
Review: Barabasi's book is a novel way of looking at large
networks. With simple and well developed examples, Barabasi
provides a clear description of laws that govern the formation
of real networks. It's a book that is useful for both curious readers and researchers.
Rating:
Summary: An introduction to network sciences and their history
Review: Linked is a very interesting introduction into the emerging science of networks. The book assumes no previous experience in network sciences so it is easily readable by any one interesting in adding to their personal store of knowledge.I particularly enjoyed the author's writing style. He presents antiquated ideas as if they are current fact, then moves on in the next chapter explaining the discoveries that make the previous chapters topic outdated. While definitely not the most efficient way to impart information, it does give the reader a lot of the history behind network sciences. In gene research I see network sciences playing an extremely large part. There are only a handful of genes that have been found to individually cause and illness, or change someone behavior; instead there has been a complex interaction between multiple genes that produce the final outcome: blonde hair, blue eyes, and a happy demeanor aren't stored in three genes, it is left to the interaction of possibly hundreds of them to come to that simple conclusion. As the science of network expands and further rules are discovered, I believe this complex interactions will be simplified to some extent. We can see the result of network sciences, whether known to the individuals involved in the planning or not, in the recent conflict in Iraq. As Linked sets forth, the removal of a significant number of hubs in a network, be it the Internet, economy, or a social structure will render the network inoperable. This is what the US Armed Forces did with the Iraqi regime: they targeted high ranking officials and key cities both of which are hubs in the network of the regime. Once a significant number of these "hubs" had been removed, the regime crumbled. I certainly believe network sciences will change the way not only scientists but all individuals approach their work. Network sciences are applicable in every branch of life where connections between more than one object or person exist. It is only up to those involved in the networks to determine how they wish to apply it to their life. Considering myself decently versed in Buddhist philosophy, I do find it very interesting that this book sets forth as scientific fact that which Buddhists have been saying for millennia: everything is connected to everything else...
Rating: 
Summary: Over-rated book
Review: I am a college student, and I think this book is not a good book because it is an insult to the intelligence of the general public. First of all, any high school or college level student interested in physics/maths or science in general would learn a lot more in a precise discussion of the issues in Linked in a 10-page paper. Moreso, the book is gets so repetitive, explaining the same thing over and over, it almost gets in the way of clarity. This book, is not 'clear' or 'easy' - on the contrary, it applies a few concepts taken out of context to many different fields - but does not do it in a uniform way, yet presents it for the sake of addressing the general audience as if it was uniform. It gives the same NAME to concepts which are different from each other for the sake of generality, making grave errors of consistency throughout the book. As a basis of comparison, when compared to 'The Elegant Universe' this book is really insignificant, badly written, and the worst of it IS full of factual errors. The author, who himself is not really as qualified as he likes to think, presents to the public only his and his' friends papers - whereas as a public promoter of science he is obliged to give credit when it is due, especially in such a book pretending to contain a 'history' of the developments. In short, this book is a scientists scheme to attract attention (thus funding) to his area of research, and itself is of very little importance. It's ambiguous, presents conjectures as if they were facts, and is giving a history twisted on purpose. Two stars - and just because there are books around even worse than this one. If you'd really like to learn what's going on, read a decent textbook, and brush-up your HS math - then will come a better understanding and a deeper appreciation. Instead of awe as a result of brainwashing.
Rating:
Summary: fascinating science
Review: I have only skipped through this book, so it's not fair for me to rate it. however, i have studied several original papers by Barabási & his team at notre dame (on which this book is based) & they are among the most exciting/thought-provoking things i have ever read. they set me thinking about all sorts of things about systems & their efficiency vs vulnerability, technology & its achille's heel and our civilisation that builds on such technology. (I actually committed an act of theft & stole my office's library copy of the issue of Nature that features one of their 1st papers on the front cover in 2000! i did secretly return the copy 6 months later.) I think an entire political sociology could be built on 'scale-free' network mathematics, or it already exists in the works of Gramsci & foucault but now you have the mathematics for it. some of my 2 cents worth of preliminary conclusions from my thinking, though they are not necessarily Barabási's: scale-free networks are the type developed in virtually all important global communication technology and they are super-efficient and robust against internal malfunctioning. but they are vulnerable to attacks from outside. This is the type of technology on which the US & its allies with the most advanced economies are based & they are most vulnerable to 'terrorist' attacks. Islamic Jihadists have figured this out intuitively in their choices of attacks (e.g., WTC) and their network organisation (e.g., running sleeper cells with almost no connection with each other. This by definition, hampers their efficiency, by scale-free network logic.) If these Jihadists (or their enemies) are math-capable, they should definitely read up on scale-free networks and Barabási. Hope i am not completely off the wall. I actually propose this as a PhD thesis, but (un)fortunatley, have been rejected.
Rating:
Summary: A report from a confusing area of research
Review: If you read this, you will read about Barabasi's exciting work and the work of his friends. You will read about the risks he and his colleagues take with their careers. You will read about the incredible inertia in academia. But, you won't find much insight into the principles of network dynamics? I'm not sure the book delivers. We get a 'report from the field', but not much detail or general understanding. It's all too confusing and new, if I caught Barabasi's drift. But, is this a good 'introduction' to network dynamics? Based on the reviews here, it seems clear the prose appeals to many readers. If this inspires people to read more, then great. I am afraid they are attracted by the comforting tone and soothing outlook, though. We get too much of Barabasi, the expert grant writer. Barabasi foresees network dynamics leading us to Kurzweil's happy 'Age of Spiritual Machines'. A more down to earth view suggests networks bring us Osama Bin Laden. Barabasi is quite thrilled to find small world dynamics in his network research, but never connects them to the 'small world dynamics' of drug lords and suicide bombers. I'm a bit puzzled by Barabasi's problems with the details. For example, he does a poor job of explaining exactly what a 'power-law' distribution might be, though he uses the term over and over, again. How does one 'find' a power-law in experimental data? Most people have probably gone through much of their lives never seeing a single one! If you find one, will anyone agree with you? Offering a few examples that one could work with at home would go a long way. For instance, Barabasi talks about the way wealth approximates a power-law distribution. If you try to work with published data on this subjects, there won't be much that looks like a power-law. In fact, the whole idea is rather controversial. It confounds our intuitions and sense of what is right. A power-law distribution of wealth has a few rich, a few more at the 'middle income' level and huge masses in the 'poor' bracket. We would rather have income distributed according to a 'bell curve', a few rich, a few poor and most 'middle class.' If you want to claim 1) natural is 'good', 2) power-laws are 'natural', and 3) wealth has a power-law distribution, why complain about a vanishing middle class? A big middle class is unnatural! These and other conundrums of the network await the reader's next journey into the subject matter.
Rating: 
Summary: a great intro to modern network research
Review: barabasi does a great job of bringing you up to speed on current networking stuff, really focusing on the great strides that have been made in the past decade or two from all sorts of fields. my only complaints about the book were that it's not technical enough, doesn't have enough technical pointers (citeseer is your friend), and really stops at "hey, everything follows a power law!" but that's appearantly barabasi's schtick, power laws and scale free networks, i'll have to look elsewhere for what the implications for that finding really are. overall, a good introduction for the curious mind, but not nearly technical enough.
Rating:
Summary: An amazing read
Review: This is not a technical book, it is not meant to give a complete overview of current research on networks, and there are very few equations in it. YET, it is a beautifully written book. It is a great chance to experience the joy and excitement of people who recently made some discoveries about networks. It has lots of stories, but the author is very careful and capable in making his technical points clear (just, by using words!). Finally, I want to say that the author indeed accomplishes his objective: This book makes the reader think about networks. I wish in every field people could write such fun books, summarizing their research and the state of the art.
-- A PhD student in applied math.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating
Review: The best science book I have read in a very long time.
Rating:
Summary: Clear explanation and broad application
Review: This book is ideal for those who are interested in learning how network theories relate to a wide variety of topics. The author relates his research of network topology to many systems including the internet, terrorist organizations, and the cell's metabolic web. The text is clearly written and easy to read - no background in the area is needed. Thus the ideas in the book can be absorbed in a few hours. This will be time well spent to anyone who may have heard about 'scale-free networks' and 'power laws,' but doesn't have a good grasp of these concepts. The book does not offer much new information beyond the authors published scientific papers (a very impressive string published in the most prestigious scientific journals), but does present these ideas as a cohesive whole with interesting background information.
Rating:
Summary: How networks cross disciplines and applications
Review: In Linked, a scientist intrigued by the new science of networks traces the history of connected systems, from the early graph theory by a Swiss mathematician to new biology developments in cancer research based on cellular networks. 'Networking' here goes far beyond the computer world into the worlds of biology and hard science, showing how networks cross disciplines and applications to provide new insights.
| 
