Connected Book Review

In the book Connected (2009), authors and scientists James Fowler and Nicholas Christakis have exhibited convincing evidence for our impact on each other’s health, wealth, happiness, beliefs and even weight through our large, diverse and complicated social networks. Throughout the novel the authors have included several examples and research studies as a means to reveal how our real-life social networks influence most if not all aspects of our lives. This report will analyze and critique both Fowler’s and Christakis’s arguments.
The novel begins by questioning “Does obesity spread from person to person?” (Fowler & Christakis, 2009, p. 106). In order to study this question, the scientists required a specific kind of data that contained precise information about people’s positions in a large social network over …show more content…
The findings from the Framingham Heart Study is used with psychological terms and theories to show how obesity can spread from one side of a social network to the other. Though there are other studies in this book to affirm how aspects of our lives such as obesity, happiness and wealth can spread within social networks through social ties the Framingham Heart Study really conveys just how contagious things like obesity can be within a social network. Fowler and Christakis used this particular study to support their idea that our friends and friends, friends can affect whether we are fat or thin. Though some have argued that this research has not fully been stripped of all homophily and environmental factors from the calculations it has provided scientists with helpful information about just how influential our social networks can be. Conclusively, researchers Fowler and Christakis effectively have stated their research through the use of research studies and psychological terms and