In the bestselling tradition of Malcom Gladwell, James Gleick, and Nate Silver, prominent professor László Barabási gives us a trailblazing book that promises to transform the very foundations of how our success-obsessed society approaches their professional careers, life pursuits and long-term goals.
Too often, accomplishment does not equal success. We did the work but didn't get the promotion; we played hard but weren't recognized; we had the idea but didn't get the credit. We convince ourselves that talent combined with a strong work ethic is the key to getting ahead, but also realize that combination often fails to yield results, without any deeper understanding as to why. Recognizing this striking disconnect, the author, along with a team of renowned researchers and some of the most advanced data-crunching systems on the planet, dedicated themselves to one goal: uncovering that ever-elusive link between performance and success.
Now, based on years of academic research, The Formula finally unveils the groundbreaking discoveries of their pioneering study, not only highlighting the scientific and mathematic principles that underpin success, but also revolutionizing our understanding of:
Why performance is necessary but not adequate Why "Experts" are often wrong How to assemble a creative team primed for success How to most effectively engage our networks
"This is not just an important but an imperative project: to approach the problem of randomness and success using the state of the art scientific arsenal we have. Barabasi is the person."-Nassim Nicholas Taleb, author of the New York Times bestselling The Black Swan and Distinguished Professor of Risk Engineering at NYU
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"Laszlo Barabasi is an extraordinary scientist who has enjoyed great success. He brings to bear all of his capacity as the former to understand the latter--to our great benefit. Writing in a lively fashion, he illuminates broad principles that explain how people in all fields--from entrepreneurs to scientists to athletes to artists--achieve success. The insights are novel and useful, and backed not just by vivid stories, but also by the sorts of detailed and inventive scientific analyses, plainly explained, for which Barabasi is rightly famous."
— Nicholas Christakis, co-author of Connected and the Sol Goldman Family Professor of Social and Natural Science at Yale University
“Barabási will indelibly transform the way we all think about success.”
— Alex Pentland, author of Social Physics and Toshiba Professor at MITThis is not just an important but an imperative project: to approach the problem of randomness and success using the state of the art scientific arsenal we have. Barabasi is the person.
— Nassim Nicholas Taleb, author of the New York Times bestselling The Black Swan and Distinguished Professor of Risk Engineering at NYUIn his new book, Laszlo Barabasi delights us with the stories and mechanisms that explain success in our achievement obsessed society.
— Cesar A. Hidalgo, author of Why Information Grows and Director of the Macro Connections group at the MIT Media LabBarabasi will indelibly transform the way we all think about success.
— Alex Pentland, author of Social Physics and Toshiba Professor at MITIt's rare that a book about success turns out to be such a page-turner, but there you go. File [The Formula] away with Freakonomics or Outliers.
— GeekwireA fascinating new book.
— Bloomberg BusinessweekIf you are currently at the top of your field, but you want to knock everyone else off the mountain, Barabasi will tell you how. And if you're not quite there yet, these laws might give you something to think about on the way up.
— LifehackerA fun, fast, first-hand account of efforts to use big data to pull back the curtain on our collective dynamics.The Formula offers a rich tour of research on how relatively simple feedback forces channel our lives in surprising and counter-intuitive ways.
— NatureThe Formula is an important book for us all to read. It weaves together meticulously researched historical context with more than a decade of Barabási's and other scholars' "eureka moments" and research findings to extract scientific principles and actionable insights for achieving success.
— ScienceAlbert-László Barabási is a pioneer of real-world network. At 32, he was the youngest professor to be named the Emil T. Hofmann Professor of physics at the University of Notre Dame and has won numerous awards for his work, including the FEBS Anniversary Prize for Systems Biology and the John von Neumann Medal for outstanding achievements. He currently lives in Boston and is distinguished professor and director of the Center for Network Science at Northeastern University.
Ryan Vincent Anderson is a voice talent and Earphones Award–winning audiobook narrator.