Complex Webs
Anticipating the Improbable

Presents the common principles, algorithms, and tools that govern network behaviour, dynamics, and complexity, connecting theory to numerous real-world examples.

Bruce J. West (Author), Paolo Grigolini (Author)

9780521113663, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 23 December 2010

386 pages, 110 b/w illus. 6 tables 27 exercises
25.4 x 17.9 x 2.2 cm, 0.9 kg

'Recent books highlighting different aspects of network science can be roughly separated into popular works that lay out an integrated scientific view of humans and modern technology; manuals and references focused on specific application areas such as biophysics, econophysics, or sociophysics; and texts that explore advanced networks-related topics that go beyond particular disciplines. Complex Webs most closely matches the last (and smallest) category, as it interweaves various topics from statistical physics to support the understanding of complex networks; perhaps in the future those topics will form the foundation of a network science.' H. Eugene Stanley, Physics Today

Complex Webs synthesises modern mathematical developments with a broad range of complex network applications of interest to the engineer and system scientist, presenting the common principles, algorithms, and tools governing network behaviour, dynamics, and complexity. The authors investigate multiple mathematical approaches to inverse power laws and expose the myth of normal statistics to describe natural and man-made networks. Richly illustrated throughout with real-world examples including cell phone use, accessing the Internet, failure of power grids, measures of health and disease, distribution of wealth, and many other familiar phenomena from physiology, bioengineering, biophysics, and informational and social networks, this book makes thought-provoking reading. With explanations of phenomena, diagrams, end-of-chapter problems, and worked examples, it is ideal for advanced undergraduate and graduate students in engineering and the life, social, and physical sciences. It is also a perfect introduction for researchers who are interested in this exciting new way of viewing dynamic networks.

1. Webs
2. Webs, trees and branches
3. Mostly linear dynamics
4. Random walks and chaos
5. Non-analytic dynamics
6. Brief recent history of webs
7. Dynamics of chance
8. Synopsis.

Subject Areas: Electrical engineering [THR], Physics [PH], Applied mathematics [PBW], Biomedical engineering [MQW]