The Rules of Contagion : Why Things Spread - and Why They Stop
by Adam Kucharski (Author)
Format:Paperback / softback 352 pages
Publisher:Profile Books Ltd
Imprint:Wellcome Collection
Edition:Main
ISBN:9781788164726
Published:19 Mar 2020
Classifications:Infectious & contagious diseases, Popular science
Readership:Professional & Vocational Tertiary Education (US: College)
Weight:430g
Dimensions:135 x 214 x 32 (mm)
Pub. Country:United Kingdom
Player3Description
It is hard to imagine a more timely book ... much of the modern world will make more sense having read it. The TimesBrilliant and authoritative - Alex Bellos, author of Alexs Adventures in Numberland A deadly virus suddenly explodes into the population. A political movement gathers pace, and then quickly vanishes.
An idea takes off like wildfire, changing our world forever. We live in a world thats more interconnected than ever before. Our lives are shaped by outbreaks - of disease, of misinformation, even of violence - that appear, spread and fade away with bewildering speed.
To understand them, we need to learn the hidden laws that govern them. From superspreaders who might spark a pandemic or bring down a financial system to the social dynamics that make loneliness catch on, The Rules of Contagion offers compelling insights into human behaviour and explains how we can get better at predicting what happens next. Along the way, Adam Kucharski explores how innovations spread through friendship networks, what links computer viruses with folk stories - and why the most useful predictions arent necessarily the ones that come true.
