Networks

The study of networks, including computer networks, social networks, and biological networks, has attracted enormous interest in the last few years. The rise of the Internet and the wide availability of inexpensive computers have made it possible to gather and analyze network data on an unprecedented scale, and the development of new theoretical tools has allowed us to extract knowledge from networks of many different kinds. The study of networks is broadly interdisciplinary and central developments have occurred in many fields, including mathematics, physics, computer and information sciences, biology, and the social sciences. This book brings together the most important breakthroughs in each of these fields and presents them in a coherent fashion, highlighting the strong interconnections between work in different areas. Topics covered include the measurement of networks; methods for analyzing network data, including methods developed in physics, statistics, and sociology; fundamentals of graph theory; computer algorithms; mathematical models of networks, including random graph models and generative models; and theories of dynamical processes taking place on networks.

Table of Contents:
1: Introduction Part I: The empirical study of networks 2: Technological networks 3: Networks of information 4: Social networks 5: Biological networks Part II: Fundamentals of network theory 6: Mathematics of networks 7: Measures and metrics 8: Computer algorithms 9: Network statistics and measurement error 10: The structure of real-world networks Part III: Network models 11: Random graphs 12: The configuration model 13: Models of network formation Part IV: Applications 14: Community structure 15: Percolation and network resilience 16: Epidemics on networks 17: Dynamical systems on networks 18: Network search

About the Author :
Mark Newman received a D.Phil. in physics from the University of Oxford in 1991 and conducted postdoctoral research at Cornell University before joining the staff of the Santa Fe Institute, a think-tank in New Mexico devoted to the study of complex systems. In 2002 he left Santa Fe for the University of Michigan, where he is currently Anatol Rapoport Distinguished University Professor of Physics and a professor in the university's Center for the Study of Complex Systems.

Review :
This is the definitive book on networks, friendly enough for anyone to read and serious enough for researchers to find their way. [Newman] is one of the founders and leaders of the field and has updated the book with cutting-edge topics. This is the definitive book on network science, by one of its most brilliant researchers and graceful expositors. The second edition of Mark Newman's Networks is clear, comprehensive, and fascinating. This is an excellent textbook by one of the preeminent scholars in the study of networks. I draw heavily from it when teaching my undergraduate course on networks, and I am very pleased to see a new edition of the book. Newman's clear exposition shines through in this textbook. An extraordinarily comprehensive and clear exposition of network science from one of the giants in the field. Newman succeeds in making accessible to a broad readership even the most technical content. Reviews from previous edition: Networks accomplishes two key goals: It provides a comprehensive introduction and presents the theoretic backbone of network science. [] The book is balanced in its presentation of theoretical concepts, computational techniques, and algorithms. The level of difficulty increases which each chapter [which] makes the book particularly valuable to physics students who wish to acquire a solid foundation based on their knowledge of basic linear algebra, calculus, and differential equations. Newman has written a wonderful book that gives an extensive overview of the broadly interdisciplinary network-related developments that have occured in many fields, including mathematics, physics, computer science, biology, and the social sciences ... Overall, a valuable resource covering a wide-randing field. Likely to become the standard introductory textbook for the study of networks [...] Overall, this is an excellent textbook for the growing field of networks. It is cleverly written and suitable as both an introduction for undergraduate students (particularly Parts 1 to 3) and as a roadmap for graduate students. [...] Being highly self-contained, computer scientists and professionals from other fields can also use the book - in fact, the author himself is a physicist. In short, this book is a delight for the inquisitive mind. This book brings together, for the first time, the most important breakthroughs in each of these fields and presents them in a coherent fashion, highlighting the strong connections between work in different subject areas.