インターネットやSNSなど、私たちの生活をとり巻くネットワークシステムは、日々の生活が成り立つ上で欠かすことのできない存在となっています。複雑に絡み合うネットワークの性質や理論について、自然やテクノロジー、さらに社会や歴史の側面からわかりやすい例を用いながら概説します。
  

• Considers the basic elements of network theory and its applications
• Uses examples from everyday life - from nature, technology, society, and history - to explain the basic theory
• An engaging introduction for anyone trying to understand complex networks

  
From ecosystems to Facebook, from the Internet to the global financial market, some of the most important and familiar natural systems and social phenomena are based on a networked structure. It is impossible to understand the spread of an epidemic, a computer virus, large-scale blackouts, or massive extinctions without taking into account the network structure that underlies all these phenomena.
  
In this Very Short Introduction, Guido Caldarelli and Michele Catanzaro discuss the nature and variety of networks, using everyday examples from society, technology, nature, and history to explain and understand the science of network theory. They show the ubiquitous role of networks; how networks self-organize; why the rich get richer; and how networks can spontaneously collapse. They conclude by highlighting how the findings of complex network theory have very wide and important applications in genetics, ecology, communications, economics, and sociology.