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The Rules of Contagion: Why Things Spread—and Why They Stop

The Rules of Contagion: Why Things Spread—and Why They Stop BOOKS AND MEDIA financial bubbles, malware attacks, and folktales. The Rules of Contagion: Although this book covers a lot of ground, it is an Why Things Spread—and incredibly fun ride. Kucharski shows how scientists Why They Stop and businessmen directly apply models of infectious disease dynamics to other contexts. For example, af- ter the 2008 financial crisis, businesses on Wall Street Adam Kucharski; Basic Books, Hachette Book Group, recruited leading theoretical biologists to forecast fi - New York, NY, USA, 2020; ISBN-13 (hardcover): nancial contagion, such as the spread of an economic 978-1541674318; ISBN-10: 1541674316; Pages: 341; crisis from one country to another. However, social Price: $30.00 (hardcover) contagion fundamentally differs from infectious dis- n 1902, Ronald Ross re- ease. For instance, influenza might be transmitted by Iceived the second No- a single exposure but the spread of new ideas might bel Prize in Physiology or depend on cumulative exposure. Medicine for discovering Against a backdrop of pandemic and political that mosquito bites trans- uncertainty, this book is a timely read. Models of mit malaria. Determined disease outbreaks have never been more in the pub - to stop the spread of the lic eye. The science of contagion can help societies disease, Ross developed navigate not just disease, but also pressing political mathematical models that issues. For example, Kucharski makes a convincing demonstrated a key in- case that violent crime behaves as a contagion; by sight: mosquito control viewing violence through this lens, public health ex - could effectively stop the perts have offered alternatives to traditional polic - spread of malaria without ing. Similarly, as misinformation spreads rampantly eliminating all mosquitos. on social media during a US election year, under - This early insight showed standing how ideas spread online has never been the power of mechanistic models to inform efforts to more crucial. slow the spread of infectious disease. In one whirlwind of a book, The Rules of Con- Over a century later, digital marketers repur- tagion distills lessons learned from the Zika virus posed epidemiologic models to tackle a new puzzle: epidemic, the 2008 financial crisis, the ice bucket spreading online content. They recognized that Ins- challenge, and more. Written in clear and accessible tagram influencers have a lot in common with super - prose, this is a rewarding read for infectious dis - spreaders of severe acute respiratory syndrome and ease professionals and members of the public alike. that memes have R values (mathematical terms that Whether you are looking to understand the corona - indicate how contagious an infectious disease is). virus disease pandemic or promote your ideas to Although their goals were different, both the dig- the public, Kucharski will convince you that under - ital marketers and Ronald Ross turned to mathemati- standing contagion is essential to understanding the cal models to ask the same question: why do things modern world. spread, and why do they stop? This is the question Valerie J. Morley that motivates Adam Kucharski’s ambitious new book The Rules of Contagion. Kucharski, an associ- Author affiliation: The Pennsylvania State University, University ate professor at the London School of Hygiene and Park, Pennsylvania, USA Tropical Medicine, has spent his career analyzing in- DOI: https://doi.org/10.3201/eid2702.204255 fectious disease outbreaks. In The Rules of Contagion, Kucharski zooms out to take a sweeping look at the Address for correspondence: Valerie J. Morley, Center for science of how things, from viral infections to new Infectious Disease Dynamics, W-235A Millennium Science ideas, spread. Complex, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA Kucharski artfully interweaves the science of 16802, USA; email: [email protected] disease outbreaks with the spread of violent crime, Emerging Infectious Diseases • www.cdc.gov/eid • Vol. 27, No. 2, February 2021 675 http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Emerging Infectious Diseases Pubmed Central

The Rules of Contagion: Why Things Spread—and Why They Stop

Morley, Valerie J.
Emerging Infectious Diseases , Volume 27 (2) – Feb 1, 2021
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Publisher
Pubmed Central
ISSN
1080-6040
eISSN
1080-6059
DOI
10.3201/eid2702.204255
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Abstract

BOOKS AND MEDIA financial bubbles, malware attacks, and folktales. The Rules of Contagion: Although this book covers a lot of ground, it is an Why Things Spread—and incredibly fun ride. Kucharski shows how scientists Why They Stop and businessmen directly apply models of infectious disease dynamics to other contexts. For example, af- ter the 2008 financial crisis, businesses on Wall Street Adam Kucharski; Basic Books, Hachette Book Group, recruited leading theoretical biologists to forecast fi - New York, NY, USA, 2020; ISBN-13 (hardcover): nancial contagion, such as the spread of an economic 978-1541674318; ISBN-10: 1541674316; Pages: 341; crisis from one country to another. However, social Price: $30.00 (hardcover) contagion fundamentally differs from infectious dis- n 1902, Ronald Ross re- ease. For instance, influenza might be transmitted by Iceived the second No- a single exposure but the spread of new ideas might bel Prize in Physiology or depend on cumulative exposure. Medicine for discovering Against a backdrop of pandemic and political that mosquito bites trans- uncertainty, this book is a timely read. Models of mit malaria. Determined disease outbreaks have never been more in the pub - to stop the spread of the lic eye. The science of contagion can help societies disease, Ross developed navigate not just disease, but also pressing political mathematical models that issues. For example, Kucharski makes a convincing demonstrated a key in- case that violent crime behaves as a contagion; by sight: mosquito control viewing violence through this lens, public health ex - could effectively stop the perts have offered alternatives to traditional polic - spread of malaria without ing. Similarly, as misinformation spreads rampantly eliminating all mosquitos. on social media during a US election year, under - This early insight showed standing how ideas spread online has never been the power of mechanistic models to inform efforts to more crucial. slow the spread of infectious disease. In one whirlwind of a book, The Rules of Con- Over a century later, digital marketers repur- tagion distills lessons learned from the Zika virus posed epidemiologic models to tackle a new puzzle: epidemic, the 2008 financial crisis, the ice bucket spreading online content. They recognized that Ins- challenge, and more. Written in clear and accessible tagram influencers have a lot in common with super - prose, this is a rewarding read for infectious dis - spreaders of severe acute respiratory syndrome and ease professionals and members of the public alike. that memes have R values (mathematical terms that Whether you are looking to understand the corona - indicate how contagious an infectious disease is). virus disease pandemic or promote your ideas to Although their goals were different, both the dig- the public, Kucharski will convince you that under - ital marketers and Ronald Ross turned to mathemati- standing contagion is essential to understanding the cal models to ask the same question: why do things modern world. spread, and why do they stop? This is the question Valerie J. Morley that motivates Adam Kucharski’s ambitious new book The Rules of Contagion. Kucharski, an associ- Author affiliation: The Pennsylvania State University, University ate professor at the London School of Hygiene and Park, Pennsylvania, USA Tropical Medicine, has spent his career analyzing in- DOI: https://doi.org/10.3201/eid2702.204255 fectious disease outbreaks. In The Rules of Contagion, Kucharski zooms out to take a sweeping look at the Address for correspondence: Valerie J. Morley, Center for science of how things, from viral infections to new Infectious Disease Dynamics, W-235A Millennium Science ideas, spread. Complex, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA Kucharski artfully interweaves the science of 16802, USA; email: [email protected] disease outbreaks with the spread of violent crime, Emerging Infectious Diseases • www.cdc.gov/eid • Vol. 27, No. 2, February 2021 675

Journal

Emerging Infectious Diseases – Pubmed Central

Published: Feb 1, 2021

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