Over the past decade there has been a growing public fascination with the complex connectedness of modern society. This connectedness is found in many incarnations: in the rapid growth of the Internet, in the ease with which global communication takes place, and in the ability of news and information as well as epidemics and financial crises to spread with surprising speed and intensity. These are phenomena that involve networks, incentives, and the aggregate behavior of groups of people; they are based on the links that connect us and the ways in which our decisions can have subtle consequences for others. This introductory undergraduate textbook takes an interdisciplinary look at economics, sociology, computing and information science, and applied mathematics to understand networks and behavior. It describes the emerging field of study that is growing at the interface of these areas, addressing fundamental questions about how the social, economic, and technological worlds are connected.

Addresses topics of current public interest (social networks, the Web, the complex behavior of markets, epidemics, phenomena surrounding popularity and 'social contagion')

Has been class-tested as a textbook in a large, interdisciplinary course taken by beginning undergraduates from many different disciplines at Cornell University

Combines perspectives from economics, sociology, computing and information science, and applied mathematics