Chapter Reviews

Each chapter in Christakis and Fowler's book focused on a different aspect about being connected with the world around us.

The first chapter is called, "In the Thick of It" and it provides background information about the book as a whole as well as it dives into some technical information about the structures of social networks. The chapter itself is extremely structured into different sections and it also breaks a part of the chapter into “rules” of social networks. I found this to be a useful device to help me as a reader become acquainted with a topic I did not originally know much about. In addition, I believe that the way Christakis and Fowler begin the chapter is very effective. They start by including a personal enticing anecdote that deals with connections, family and murder. This helps to capture reader’s attention. If they had opened their book with statistics and dull information it probably would have not captured the reader’s attention as much.

Chapter 2 is titled, “When You Smile, the World Smiles With You” and it is mainly about how emotions such as happiness, anger, and loneliness can rapidly spread among people in a social network. Christakis and Fowler mention specific instances where laughter and happiness have spread among a community. It was extremely interesting to hear about these occurrences and they got me thinking how “laughter epidemics” or other positive outbreaks are never truly highlighted in the news. Instead, negative emotional epidemics such as the one where illness spread among a school in Tennessee, are broadcasted to the world. This shows how overall our society is more negative and focused on the bad things that happen each day rather than the good things.

The next chapter in the book is called, “Love the One You’re With.” As one can assume, this chapter deals primarily with the issues of love among couples. Overall, this chapter can explore certain facts that are a bit obvious. For example, the authors discuss how a person is more likely to know someone in common with their spouse. This means that it is usual for two people who are in a romantic relationship to have met through friends or family. Even though this is not a genius deduction, it is still interesting to read about. The chapter also discusses how couples typically die in close time spans. Christakis and Fowler argue that this is because the couple is connected. I had always heard about husbands passing away and then their wife dies shortly after but I had never read anything concrete and reliable about this issue. It was intriguing to get the authors’ take on how connections could impact the life span of individuals.

The fourth chapter deals with common health issues that arise as a result of connections. Some of the topics discussed are germs, unprotected sex, obesity, smoking, drinking, and suicide. These are all popular subjects that relate to our health. The authors argue that connections with other people have the ability to alter your weight, drug and alcohol use, and your likelihood to commit suicide. Christakis and Fowler approached these controversial issues with poise and in the manner any scientist or researcher would by including many facts.

The fifth chapter is titled, “The Buck Starts Here” and it explores the effects that connections have on money and the economy. I thought this chapter was particularly valuable in the sense that it explored many different aspects of money and did not just focus on one facet such as the circulation of money. Instead, the authors explore creativity in the economy and the concept of markets in regards to connections.

The next chapter is called “Politically Connected” and it primarily discusses the role of voting and campaigns in regards to connections. This chapter was especially fascinating especially since I read it during the time of the election this year. I enjoyed how this book was relevant and updated since it discussed in depth the 2008 election between Obama and McCain. It was useful to compare and contrast the election of 2008 and 2012 as well as explore it in regards to social connections. Christakis and Fowler bring up the fact that Obama was so successful due to his social connections with people. This is not something that would have previously occurred to me.

Chapter 7 is called, “It’s In Our Nature” and it talks about the human environment that brings us together along with how our genetic makeup shapes the connections people have. This chapter proves to be especially essential to Christakis and Fowler’s argument because multiple key terms and phrases are introduced to the reader. This helps the reader in fully understanding the topic of human nature.

The second to last chapter is titled, “Hyperconnected.” It deals with current issues surrounding our society such as an increase in technology and online spaces such as Second Life, World of Warcraft, Facebook, and MySpace. This chapter essentially rehashed popular topics in society such as the concern of Facebook and social media sites overtaking our lives. For the most part, this chapter just brought up reoccurring issues that I am already familiar with.

The last chapter is referred to as, “The Whole is Great.” It essentially is summing up the main points previously made about social networks as a whole. It was effective to get closure as a reader on certain topics addressed earlier in the book. The chapter and book end by stating that society is better united together as a whole instead of being disconnected from each other. Christakis and Fowler end their book with eloquence and grace.