The Square and the Tower

Posted on 04 March 2018 by Niall Ferguson

Brilliantly illuminates the great power struggle between networks and hierarchies that is raging around the world todaySilicon Valley needed a history lesson and Ferguson has provided it Eric Schmidt, Executive Chairman of Alphabet, the parent company of GoogleA brilliant recasting of the turning points in world history, including the one we re living through, as a collision between old power hierarchies and new social networks.Most history is hierarchical it s about emperors, presidents, prime ministers and field marshals It s about states, armies and corporations It s about orders from on high Even history from below is often about trade unions and workers parties But what if that s simply because hierarchical institutions create the archives that historians rely on What if we are missing the informal, less well documented social networks that are the true sources of power and drivers of change The 21st century has been hailed as the Age of Networks However, in The Square and the Tower, Niall Ferguson argues that networks have always been with us, from the structure of the brain to the food chain, from the family tree to freemasonry Throughout history, hierarchies housed in high towers have claimed to rule, but often real power has resided in the networks in the town square below For it is networks that tend to innovate And it is through networks that revolutionary ideas can contagiously spread Just because conspiracy theorists like to fantasize about such networks doesn t mean they are not real.From the cults of ancient Rome to the dynasties of the Renaissance, from the founding fathers to Facebook, The Square and the Tower tells the story of the rise, fall and rise of networks, and shows how network theory concepts such as clustering, degrees of separation, weak ties, contagions and phase transitions can transform our understanding of both the past and the present.Just as The Ascent of Money put Wall Street into historical perspective, so The Square and the Tower does the same for Silicon Valley And it offers a bold prediction about which hierarchies will withstand this latest wave of network disruption and which will be toppled. Best Download eBook The Square and the Tower By Niall Ferguson – kino-fada.fr 3.5 stars for fuelling debateMore polemic than history, Ferguson has certainly digested a huge amount of material and tries to re cast the entire history of mankind as a constant struggle between the power of hierarchies and networks This kind of systematic binary categorisation, however, tends to simplify his vision as his own narrative makes clear, the boundaries between a hierarchy and a network may shift, dissolve and reform Russian communism, and Hitler s fascism might both have started 3.5 stars for fuelling debateMore polemic than history, Ferguson has certainly digested a huge amount of material and tries to re cast the entire history of mankind as a consta...This is a big book in many ways Niall Ferguson is a British historian who takes on complex issues In this book he attempts, mostly successfully, to describe the characteristics of networks and hierarchies He begins with a discussion of the Illuminati there is a lot of confusion about who the Illuminati were a small group of German intellectuals in Bavaria who thought that with the right amount of thinking almost any problem could be solved Like most of their like they were a secretive a This is a big book in many ways Niall Ferguson is a British historian who takes on complex issues In this book he attempts, mostly successfully, to describe the characteristics of networks and hierarchies He begins with a discussion of the Illuminati there is a lot of confusion about who the ...This book, by the always fascinating Niall Ferguson though his main product for sale is always himself , analyzes capsule summaries of episodes from history, in order to negatively contrast spontaneous, networked action the square with hierarchical control the tower Two theses flow from this, one stated early on, the other only explicitly presented at the end The first is that our networked age is not unique in fact, it is the second such age, and lessons are to be gained from this, This book, by the always fascinating Niall Ferguson though his main product for sale is always himself , analyzes capsule summaries of episodes from history, in order to negatively contrast spontaneous, networked acti...I enjoy reading Ferguson s books, and this one was no different However, it was not my favorite from this author The science and history behind networks was fascinating, and it was interesting to see how the interaction between networks and hierarchies shaped history However, I would have likeddepth and a wider variety of historical examples of the hierarchy vs network struggle I do not think that a couple of pages dedicated to each historical event was enough to persuasively make the I enjoy reading Ferguson s books, and this one was no different However, it was not my favorite from this author The science and history behind networks was fascinating, and it was interesting to see how the interaction between networks and hierarchies shaped history However, I would have likeddepth and a wider variety of historical examples of...Incredibly rich account The first quarter of the book is truly captivating Great summary of the network analysis theory and insightful applications to different pivotal moments across the historical timeline But then it gets a bit repetitive and overwhelming with misc details Having said that Niall Ferguson is a powerful non fiction writer and a man of incredible erudition So providing you can keep up with Niall as he leapfrogs from one century to the next, from one luminary to another Incredibly rich account The first quarter of the book is truly captivating Great summary of the network analysis theory and insightful applications to different pivotal moments across the historical...To see all of my book related content, check out my blog 40%I honestly cannot be bothered to continue to drag myself through this any The Square and the Tower started off as an incredibly interesting look into the power that networks have had on society and the path that it has forged It pits networks, which are generally thought to bebalanced in the power that all components members have, against hierarchies and yet, though it points it out at various po To see all of my book related content, check out my blog 40%I honestly cannot be bothered to continue to drag myself through this any The Square and the Tower started off as an incredibly interesting look into the power that networks have had on society and the path that it has forged It pits networks, which are generally thought to bebalanced in the power that all components members have, against hierarchies and yet, though it points it out at various points, it continually seems to forget that the boundaries between hierarchies and networks are not so cut and dry For most networks are hierarchical, are they not Niall Ferguson jumps from network to network, from century to century, in a way that I assume is supposed to mimic the rush of time, but even this structure fails to make the book anywhere close to fast paced Again and again I p...Niall Ferguson manages to deeply explore the intricacies of social networks and their political and economic contexts whilst also creating a highly readable historical account His voice is clear unapologetic about his conclusions and his methods the use of social network analysis to demonstrate the power of relationships communication by various people in different contexts builds a powerful argument that our obsession with social networks today is built on a familiar story play Niall Ferguson manages to deeply explore the intricacies of social networks and their political and economic contexts whilst also creating a highly readable historical account His voice is clear unapologetic about his conclusions and his methods the use of social net...Is it possible to give 6 stars What a great book It made me realize how little i know about Western history.The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles state Marx and Engels in The Communist Manifesto According to Niall Ferguson s latest book The Square and the Tower Networks, Hierarchies and the Struggle for Global Power the history of all hitherto existing society is rather the history of the tension between networks and hierarchies a fact hitherto largely ignored by historians because networks characteristically do not leave an orderly paper trail , The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles state Marx and Engels in The Communist Manifesto According to Niall Ferguson s latest book The Square and the Tower Networks, Hierarchies and the Struggle for Global Power the history of all hitherto existing society is rather the history of the tension between networks and hierarchies a fact hitherto largely ignored by historians because networks characteristically do not leave an orderly paper trail , although a subsidiary factor is that the study of networks such as the Illuminati, the Freemasons, the Rothschild family and the Bilderberg Group has been widely discredited by the ravings of conspiracy theorists.According to Ferguson there have been two periods in which networks empowered by new technology, enabling ideas to spread virally, have been massively disruptive of established hierarchical structures, namely, the late fifteenth century to the end of ...Subtitled Networks, Hierarchies and the Struggle for Global Power , this is described as a whole new way of imagining the world as it s possible that we re missing information about networks because it s not recorded in historical archives But what I found in this book is rather different, being a run through history in what seemed to me a disjointed way, albeit very detailed, with network diagrams and many footnotes I found parts of it quite tedious, especially the early section detailing Subtitled Networks, Hierarchies and the Struggle for Global Power , this is described as a whole new way of imagining the world as it s possible that we re missing information about networks because it s not recorded in historical archives But what I found in this book is rather different, being a run through history in what seemed to me a disjointed way, albeit very detailed, with network diagrams and many footnotes I found parts of it quite tedious, especially the early section detailing the research on the history of networking If I hadn t requested the book from NetGalley I would have not bothered reading anyFortunately I found some sections wereinteresting such as on such varied topics as social media, the Illuminati, the Reformation, European Royal families, the Cambridge spies, Al Qaeda, ISIS and Trump to name but a few and I did finish the book.Ferguson states that his book seeks to learn about the future mainly by studying the past, in particular by looking...

04 March 2018

Niall Ferguson