The author of the bestselling "Linked" presents a revolutionary new theory showing how it is possible to predict human behavior patterns. Barabasi argues that consumers act in bursts of activity that can be predicted with mathematical precision.
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The author of the bestselling "Linked" presents a revolutionary new theory showing how it is possible to predict human behavior patterns. Barabasi argues that consumers act in bursts of activity that can be predicted with mathematical precision.
Read Less
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Seller's Description:
Very good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Very good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
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Very good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
Barabasi is a well-known researcher whose scientific work on human networks is highly regarded. In this book he uses his mathematical work as a takeoff point to demonstrate that with enough observations one can "predict" the whereabouts of anyone. The argument is unconvincing and the examples (e.g., a peripatetic artist friend) are incoherent. As for predicting one's future from numerous observations of one's past, another reviewer has pointed out that the Belgian polymath Adolph Quetelet tried this a century ago, gathering immense quantities of anthropometric and sociological statistics that he thought, among other things, could predict criminal behavior. On a population basis this almost works because all sorts of environmental variables are correlated with each other and the great majority of people in the world lead lives of humdrum routine, but it fails on the individual level, in part because it utterly ignores the unique social and physical environment that every individual inhabits. As L. Eisenberg wrote in the New England Journal of Medicine "To produce another Mozart we would need not only his genome but his mother's uterus, his father's music lessons, the state of music in 18th century Austria, Haydn's patronage ..."
Near the end of the book Barabasi makes the fatal error that many better writers before him have made (e.g., Jeremy Rifkin) by trying to anthropomorphize concepts of statistical thermodynamics, especially entropy and the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. This technobabble may easily impress people without a doctorate in physical chemistry, but to someone who actually knows the field Barabasi's pronouncements are gibberish. Then there's his foray into Hungarian history, a pointless distraction that takes up half the book. Overall, the book is disorganized and relies far too much on the overbaked formula of "golly-gee-whiz all the experts were wrong.
