The Power of Networks: Six Principles That Connect Our Lives

by Christopher G. Brinton, Mung Chiang

An accessible illustrated introducton to the networks we use every day, from Facebook and Google to WiFi and the Internet

What makes WiFi faster at home than at a coffee shop? How does Google order search results? Is it really true that everyone on Facebook is connected by six steps or less? The Power of Networks answers questions like these for the first time in a way that all of us can understand. Using simple language, analogies, stories, hundreds of illustrations, and no more math than simple addition and multiplication, Christopher Brinton and Mung Chiang provide a smart and accessible introduction to the handful of big ideas that drive the computer networks we use every day. The Power of Networks unifies these ideas through six fundamental principles of networking. These principles explain the difficulties in sharing network resources efficiently, how crowds can be wise or not so wise depending on the nature of their connections, why there are many layers in a network, and more. Along the way, the authors also talk with and share the special insights of renowned experts such as Google’s Eric Schmidt, former Verizon Wireless CEO Dennis Strigl, and “fathers of the Internet” Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn.

Genres: Technology, Science

328 pages, Paperback

Published November 13, 2018

Reviews

[Nikhil · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was very interesting, because it talked about how a lot of technology worked. I have always wondered how cell towers work, because there were a lot of phones talking to one tower. This book told me more than I needed to know. There are a couple good ones like CDMA, where things are coded, or TDMA where things are timed out. There was also this interesting part were they talked about how search engines worked, and they included and interview with former Google CEO Eric Schmidt. There was another interesting part were they talked about how companies like Netflix recommend you movies to watch. They find others like you and do a lot of crazy math just to recommend a movie to you. I guess it makes sense because it gives them a lot of extra money. They even made a competition for others to make their own algorithm, and the winner got $1 million. This book is by no means exciting, it took me a very long time to finish it, but it is very interesting.

[Rick Echevarria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great framing of networks around us

This is a great book for anyone wanting to understand the foundation and opportunities for different types of networks: from the basics of device networks to the power of social networks. Understanding the positive or negative feedback of networks, concepts around the importance of the wisdom of crowds based on independence and ranking algorithms to contextualize AI opportunities are valuable for any professional in high tech.

Overall well written with a good balance of high level concepts and depth.

[Chris Elwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprisingly engaging given the technical subject matter. Refreshingly clear STEM writing.

[Helen Marquis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Apparently this book was supposed to be written in a way that all of us can understand. I beg to differ. It rapidly descended into in-depth technical details that were confusing and unclear. There were some interesting interviews with tech leaders, that were particularly interesting and added some great colour to the ideas presented here, but the main body of the text was way too technical. In addition, when it tried to simplify things by drawing comparison with real-world events, most of the real-world events were equally confusing! Maybe I'm just easily confused, but this book failed to deliver at the very basic level of living up to its billing. Not for the casual user.

[Daniel N. · Rating 2 out of 5]

It has a lot of information about networks, but it’s not a read for everyone, especially for those who read casually