Connected

Human beings are embedded in elaborate face-to-face social networks. Recognizing how and why this is the case allows us to understand our actions, choices, and experiences in a new light. Connected shows that social networks are not only a natural and necessary part of our lives, but also that they are generally a force for good. Just as brains can do things that no single neuron can do, social networks can do things that no single person can do. Networks make it possible for us to work together, and to share emotions, kindness, and ideas. However, if people are affected by this embeddedness and are influenced by others to whom they are directly or indirectly connected, then people necessarily lose some power over their own life experience. Such a loss of individuality can provoke especially strong reactions when people discover that their neighbors or even strangers can influence behaviors and outcomes that have moral overtones and social repercussions (such as their body size, emotional state, altruistic acts, or voting behavior). But the flip side of this realization is that people can transcend themselves and their own limitations, and that the positive choices of a single person can come to influence the actions of many others.

Foreign Editions (in print or forthcoming):  Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Bahasa, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Greek, Dutch, Swedish, Serbian, Russian, Romanian, Polish, Hebrew, Turkish.