The Power of Networks

This rather technical book outlines six principles that connect our lives in terms of the power of networks: sharing, ranking, the wisdom and on wisdom of crowds, divide and conquer, and end to end. There are also interviews with some leading industry thinkers. Certainly, the general reader can appreciate some important points about sharing access and methods of ranking in relation to the wisdom or unwisdom of crowds. Aggregate rankings are pretty reliable, but some influential people may exert undue influence on opinion. In this respect, a discussion of Wikipedia might have been interesting. More generally, the reader gains a good understanding of the role of positive and negative feedback as well as positive and negative network effects as well as the value of opinion aggregation if people are unbiased and independent.