There's not many things that have tempted us to leave our lovely job here at Plus and return to research, but reading Steven Strogatz's book Sync: the emerging science of spontaneous order was definitely one of them. It's a beautifully written book about the emergence of one of the most fascinating, and youngest, areas of maths: network science. Six degrees: The science of a connected age, by Duncan Watts, and Linked: How everything is connected to everything else and what it means for business, science and everyday life, by Albert-László Barabási, are equally brilliant accounts of the birth and early years of network science, all three written by researchers who played pivotal roles in founding this new area.

You can read more about the maths of networks on Plus, including the networks behind our brains, rapping, crime fighting and the best parties. And to find out how this all started, why not watch our oscar-worthy movie below!

You can read more about the bridges of Königsberg here.

Return to the Plus Advent Calendar