This book attempts to *mathematically* answer the 20 questions it raises. Although this book is listed under Wireless Networking, I don't think this is where this book belongs.
I have to admit that before writing this review, I have not read the whole book. The author, Professor Mung Chiang, has laid out a brief and a very detailed explanation of 20 questions. The detailed explanation can get too technical for most people that don't have a background in algebra and calculus. I have to admit that before getting this book, I was not expecting this book to be so technical because I didn't know the author.
This book as used as a textbook for coursera.org course "Networks: Friends, Money, and Bytes". You can sign up for the course for free online. What's interesting is that the course has the following prerequisite listed: "linear algebra and multivariable calculus".
This might be a great book for someone who is interested in the math behind these questions. However, for most people, even those with masters and doctorate level education, this should be too technical to be useful for anything beyond a textbook.
Although this book is well written and well organized, the fact that it is listed under Wireless Networking (with a WiFi symbol on the cover) and the fact that it fails to give accurate description of its contents before people purchase it, I have no choice but to give it only 3 stars, although I hate giving it only three stars.
This is a very interesting book for both the casual curious and the serious scientific mind. I fall into the former as my math is forever stuck in the pre-algebra mode.
Author Mung Chiang takes 20 common questions to today's networked life. Those 20 questions are already featured in this book's synopsis so I won't mention them here, but all of them are very interesting and are worthy of answers. Chiang answers them in depth. First, he gives a layman's answer to these questions in the short answers, then goes into much more (mathematical) depth with the long answers. These long answers go on for pages and include intricate mathematical formulas. What intrigues me here is the variety of studies done that is impressive. If the question "How do I influence people on Facebook and Twitter?" is really a study of topology to functionality, then the next question, "Can I really reach anyone in six steps?" answers a generative model of network topology and reverse-engineering of network functionality. Wow. That's already over my little head.
All 20 questions are answered in detail for both people like me and people at Princeton, who will surely have more use for this book. And while some of the questions are followed with expansive replies, I see the need for more people to understand online commerce, online advertisement, online pricing of GB range and speed. We are living in the internet age now, and anyone with access to the internet is by default a subject to marketers, bankers, advertisers and businesses. This book helps explain the many formulas for a wide range of people.
Anyone with the mathematical talent to understand the concepts will greatly benefit from this book. People like me perhaps are less benefitted from this, although many of the short answers do explain the answers well enough for consumers.
One of the most interesting things about networking, not in the computer sense, is that courses like Professor Mung Chiang's are now available to all comers. Coursera has networked and provided free online courses to "empower people with education that has so far been available only to a select few." Would you enjoy taking a course that has been available only to students of engineering at Princeton? I've tried MIT courseware and have enjoyed being in the classroom and I look at this textbook and the course with wonder. This course, "Networks: Friends, Money, and Bytes," does have a prerequisite. You should be well-versed in basic linear algebra and multivariable calculus. There are mathematical models in this book that are utilized when Chiang gives us the "long answer."
The "network" in this book refers to the networks we have created in our online world. This world is almost inescapable, something that links us to large numbers of people in the world. Chiang has posited twenty questions for us to think about and explore. He answers them for us in both a long and short manner. One of these questions asks, "Can I really reach anyone in six steps?" The six degrees of separation theory reminds all of us of Kevin Bacon, but just how realistic is this small world premise? Chiang revisits Stanley Milgram's experiment in his short answer. The social networking phenomenon is fascinating to all of us. Haven't we all exclaimed at one time or another, "It's a small world!"
Is the six degrees of separation theory simply an urban legend? You can work right along with Chiang as he works through the Watts-Strogatz model in his "long answer." At the end of the chapter, as in all of his questions, you'll find a summary along with additional problems and additional book resources to explore. Perhaps there are a lot of questions you'd like answered, but the most fascinating part of this book is that you can explore them at your leisure. Have you asked yourself "When can I trust an average rating on Amazon?" Which ones do you trust and how do you know when not to trust them? This book is a journey into networking and a fun one at that, whether or not you are interested in the coursework. Keep in mind that the long answers do entail mathematical models and to get the most enjoyment out of the material you do need to have basic linear algebra and multivariable calculus behind you. This is an excellent introduction into the world of online networking and the answer to questions we all want to know.
CONTENTS:
Chapter 1: What makes CDMA work for my smartphone?
Chapter 2: How does Google sell ad spaces?
Chapter 3: How does Google rank webpages?
Chapter 4: How does Netflix recommend movies?
Chapter 5: When can I trust an average rating on Amazon?
Chapter 6: Why does Wikipedia even work?
Chapter 7: How do I viralize a YouTube video and tip a Groupon deal?
Chapter 8: How do I influence people on Facebook and Twitter?
Chapter 9: Can really reach anyone in six steps?
Chapter 10: Does the Internet have an Achilles' heel?
Chapter 11: Why do AT&T and Verizon Wireless charge me $10 a GB?
Chapter 12: How can I pay less for each GB?
Chapter 13: How does traffic get through the Internet?
Chapter 14: Why doesn't the Internet collapse under congestion?
Chapter 15: How can Skype and Bit Torrent be free?
Chapter 16: What's inside the cloud of iCloud?
Chapter 17: IPTV and Netflix: How can the Internet support Video?
Chapter 18: Why is WiFi faster at home than at a hotspot?
Chapter 19: Why am I getting only a few % of the advertised 4G speed?
Chapter 20: Is it fair that my neighbor's iPad downloads faster?
"Networked Life: 20 Questions and Answers" appears to be one of those science books written for everyman and destined for the New York Times Best Sellers lists. However, it is actually a textbook organized around solving twenty quite interesting modern network problems.
Each chapter has a simple verbal explanation and then begins tackling the problem through mathematics. My algebra is not exactly shiny from use and my calculus is more than a little rusty but the explanations are accesible and well-illustrated with formulae and diagrams.
So instead of an oversimplified comic-strip explanation of complex situations, there is the lovingly-applied use of advanced mathematics to solve genuine, contemporary problems. If algebra and calculus had been presented to me in this manner instead of as a cavalcade of dry equations and calculations, I might be using them today.
This intention of this Princeton professor of Electrical Engineering was to make some very topical items on everyday communication devices approachable for a wide range of audiences. The book was written as an undergraduate text to introduce the relevant technologies (and ideas) for what is now ubiquitous items that people now depend.
The unique element of this book is the presentation. The author first provides a basic answer to some interesting question on an item that keeps us all hooked together, such as "why doesn't the internet crash?". The high level answer is approachable for almost anyone with a high school education, and if you've got a technical background, it qualifies as easy reading. The second section is targeted for someone at the graduate school level in engineering, science, or math. Since I was already familiar with most, if not all, of the topics, this section was not particularly challenging, but I did in general like the presentation and the narratives. The mathematical rigor in this section is really what I'll call illustrative and not deeply rooted in mathematical proof (thank God!). But more to the point, it might bring out a concept like Bayesian Estimation (or math for the purist) and explain how it applies to the actual problems encountered. Since I'm a bit of a mathematical non-mathematician, this is the perfect level. Quite honestly, it's not all perfect, comprehensive, and in some cases cohesive, but it wasn't meant to be all that rigorous. After all, there are some 20 topics in the book that are all addressed as individual chapters and to do such a job would quickly lead to a textbook (or volume of textbooks for each).
I might be one of the few that will read the introduction, but I have to disagree with the author in one regard. He suggests that the engineering curriculum is a bit antiquated and need modernization, but I personally think that the foundational material is necessary for the engineering who wants to be something more than just a guy who applies technology to a problem. The essence of a good engineer is understanding and a solid foundation, and in today's world, there is an information explosion which results in the need to understand hundreds (if not thousands of different concepts) to be complete. So, the author picked items that were topical, but what happens when these topics are replaced with other interesting technical items? The learn the math and the underlying systems theory works for high end students, but simply won't work at all for the average to the "just getting by engineering student". The author was probably skewed by his time at Stanford, where there really is no reality that can be used to "generalize" for everyone. But this is just my opinion, and more importantly doesn't detract from the quality of the book.
This is a book that I would readily recommend to any number of colleagues and friends that are interested in these specialty topics on networking. If you are mildly interested in this topic and this book, you aren't likely to be disappointed in getting it. Also, this book would make an excellent book for a corporate education course because of its construction (the mix of simple answers with advanced material for the more serious and interested student).
This is a great book if you want to, for example, see what linear programming, graph theory and advanced algorythms in detailed academic presentation contribute to how google selects and ranks sites. At least when the book was published. This is a pretty amazing book but it was way beyond what I was expecting.
The main issue for me is I was looking for simpler more narrative explanation of the 20 questions. The book title and description lead me to expect something less like a text book and more like a "how it works" book which is more of an entertaining read.
Maybe if I was still in college with that level of computer science interest this would be the ideal book. I just looked at some of my favorite college computer books and the knuth books, James Martin books and others on queueing theory, and so forth. Not all that different so I think maybe I've changed in my interests.
This is a book for the advanced computer science major or a student aspiring to move to advanced computer science.
Product Details :
Hardcover: 488 pages
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (September 10, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1107024943
ISBN-13: 978-1107024946
Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 0.9 x 9.7 inches
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