Most of us are intuitively familiar with small social systems, such as
families and soccer teams. Surprisingly, though, most of us are unaware
of how complex these systems are or of the fact that they have a unique
character distinguishing them from both populations and individuals. The
current manuscript, which emerged from high-level scientific
publications on the subject, aims to bridge this gap in our
understanding of small social systems. The book aims to explain,
illustrate, and model the unique and fascinating nature of small
(social) systems by relying on deep scientific foundations and by using
examples from sport, movies, music, and the martial arts. To support its
friendly exposition of challenging scientific ideas, the book also
discusses entertaining questions such as (1) why inviting your
mother-in-law to dinner might be a challenging event, for reasons you
have never considered; (2) why soccer teams should be messy in order to
win; (3) why Nazis are deeply wrong in their understanding of the
importance of entropy; and (4) why "panda fighters" failed in the UFC
(Ultimate Fighting Championship).
"How Small Systems Work is a welcome book, which sheds light on a branch
of mathematics overlooked by scholars: how networks store information.
Focusing on small systems, the book asks fundamental questions,
providing the tools (and the examples) for answering them -with fun.
Neuman analyses, with plenty of humor, the dynamics of a family of cats,
the pleasure of listening to jazz, and the science behind football
championships, while uncovering hidden gems in the history of cinema"
Dr. Mario Alemi, author of "The Amazing Journey of Reason: from DNA to
Artificial Intelligence"
