The Rules of Contagion: Why Things Spread - and Why They Stop

Description

'Astonishingly bold' - Daily Mail 'It is hard to imagine a more timely book...much of the modern world will make more sense having read it.' - The Times We live in a world that's more interconnected than ever before. Our lives are shaped by outbreaks - of disease, of misinformation, even of violence - that appear, spread and fade away with bewildering speed. To understand them, we need to learn the hidden laws that govern them. From 'superspreaders' who might spark a pandemic or bring down a financial system to the social dynamics that make loneliness catch on, The Rules of Contagion offers compelling insights into human behaviour and explains how we can get better at predicting what happens next. Along the way, Adam Kucharski explores how innovations spread through friendship networks, what links computer viruses with folk stories - and why the most useful predictions aren't necessarily the ones that come true. Now revised and updated with content on Covid-19.

Adam Kucharski is an associate professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, working on global outbreaks such as the Ebola epidemic and the Zika virus. He is a TED fellow and winner of the 2016 Rosalind Franklin Award Lecture and the 2012 Wellcome Trust Science Writing Prize. He has written for the Observer, Financial Times, Scientific American, and New Statesman. He is the author of The Perfect Bet: How Science and Maths Are Taking the Luck Out of Gambling.

Astonishingly bold * Daily Mail * Perfect timing * Financial Times * Popular science at its best ... sparkling and clear. The subject is deeply fascinating and highly relevant ... Once you have read it, you will want to make sure others read it too. -- Alex Bellos, author * Alex's Adventures in Numberland * An impressively fluent, fascinating and accessible introduction to how epidemics, trends, behaviours and ideas start, spread - and end ... a work of contemporary relevance that Malcolm Gladwell devotees would enjoy. * New Statesman * It is hard to imagine a more timely book ... much of the modern world will make more sense having read it. * The Times * Adam Kucharski [is] fast becoming a key voice of reason in the media circus surrounding the virus ... Here he gives a clear, calm, historical overview of the mathematical ideas at the forefront of our pandemic response, where they came from and how well they stand up when you put them to the test. -- Hannah Fry * Guardian * This is a hell of a moment for a book like this to come out ... the principles of contagion, which, Kucharski argues, can be applied to everything from folk stories and financial crises to itching and loneliness, are suddenly of pressing interest to all of us. * Sunday Times * Rich in stories, The Rules of Contagion is a down-to-earth account of how mathematical approaches can help us better understand and, in turn, better respond to contagion in all its dynamic forms. Tackling issues from pandemics and gun violence, to financial crises and misinformation, Adam Kucharski inspires us all to think like mathematicians. A must read for anybody interested in epidemics and other crises. -- Peter Piot, Director of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine For anyone wanting to know how diseases spread, Adam Kucharski's book, The Rules of Contagion is a timely introduction. * Irish Independent * For now Adam Kucharski's The Rules of Contagion is the book you want to reach for ... interesting and topical -- Laura Spinney * Guardian * Illuminating ... Coronavirus has prompted hot-headed public and media reaction; this book offers comfort in the form of cold, hard facts. * Prospect Magazine * One of the Economist's 'five books of science and history that cast light on covid-19': This book charts the history of this now-pivotal science, from its origins in understanding the spread of malaria at the turn of the 20th century, to its central role in predicting the dissemination of everything from diseases to fake news in the 21st. * Economist * The Rules of Contagion is a timely reminder of the importance of disease modelling. Without such models, we would be in far greater trouble battling COVID-19. * Lancet * Lively, intriguing and elegant * Spectator * A geeky but fascinating exploration of the mathematics of things that go viral-not least of them viruses ... Kucharski takes his readers down provocative detours, such as the use of public-health models of disease transmission to examine how social networks figure in urban gun violence, with algorithms that take into account such things as 'age, gang affiliations, and prior arrests.'... Utterly timely and readable. * Kirkus * Essential reading to truly process the pandemic -- Anjana Ahuja * New Statesman * Perhaps no commentator has been in greater demand this year than Adam Kucharski ... The Rules of Contagion is an accessible guide to the mathematical rules that govern the spread of infectious diseases in populations ... [which] makes a convincing case that just as mathematics can predict the arc of an epidemic, so it can also help us understand how social contagions, from financial panics to vaccine conspiracy theories, "go viral". -- Gaia Vince, winner of the Royal Society Prize and author of Adventures in the Anthropocene * Observer *