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Connected The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives
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Social networks are intricate things of beauty. They are so elaborate and so complex—and so ubiquitous, in fact— that one has to wonder what purpose they serve. Why are we embedded in them? How do they form? How do they work? How do they affect us? I (Nicholas) have been animated by these questions for the better part of the past ten years. I began by being interested in the simplest social network of all: a pair of people, a dyad. Initially, the dyads I studied were husbands and wives. As a physician caring for termi- nally ill patients and their families, I noticed the serious toll that a loved one’s death had on a spouse. And I became interested in how illness in one person might cause illness in another. For it seemed to me that if people are interconnected, their health must also be interconnected. If a wife falls ill or dies, her husband’s risk of death assuredly rises. Eventually, I began to realize that there were all kinds of dyads I might study, such as pairs of siblings or pairs of friends or pairs of neighbors who are connected ( not separated) by a backyard fence.
Nicholas A. Christakis , MD, PhD and James H. Fowler, PhD - Personal Name
First Edition
978-0-316-03614-6
NONE
Social Science
English
2009
1-39
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