# The Rules of Contagion: Why Things Spread – and Why They Stop

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/books/the-rules-of-contagion-why-things-spread-and-why-they-stop/
- Published: 2021-09-01T07:38:00+01:00
- Author: Howard Lake

**A deadly virus suddenly explodes into the population. A political movement gathers
pace, and then quickly vanishes. An idea takes off like wildfire, changing our world
forever. We live in a world that’s more interconnected than ever before. Our lives
are shaped by outbreaks – of disease, of misinformation, even of violence – that
appear, spread and fade away with bewildering speed.**

To understand them, we need to learn the hidden laws that govern them. From ‘superspreaders’
who might spark a pandemic or bring down a financial system to the social dynamics
that make loneliness catch on, _The Rules of Contagion_ offers compelling insights
into human behaviour and explains how we can get better at predicting what happens
next.

Along the way, Adam Kucharski explores some useful issues that should be of interest
to fundraisers, including how innovations spread through friendship networks, what
links computer viruses with folk stories – and why the most useful predictions aren’t
necessarily the ones that come true.

_Named as a Times Science Book of the Year, a Guardian Science Book of the Year,
a Financial Times Science Book of the Year, and a New Statesman Book of the Year_.

![A Financial Times Science book of the year.](https://wfay6x.infiniteuploads.cloud/
2021/08/kucharski-book-quote.jpg)

“It is hard to imagine a more timely book … much of the modern world will make 
more sense having read it.”**_The Times_**‘_The Rules of Contagion_ is popular science
at its best. The prose is sparkling and clear. The subject is deeply fascinating
and highly relevant. Touching on psychology, medicine, network theory and mathematics,
epidemiologist Adam Kucharski has written a brilliant and authoritative guide to
the hidden laws of how things spread – from ideas and memes, to violence and deadly
viruses. An example of its subject matter, this book is also highly contagious: 
once you have read it, you will want to make sure others read it too.’**Alex Bellos,
author of _Alex’s Adventures in Numberland_**

Video: Nesta UK

Adam Kucharski is an associate professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical
Medicine, working on global outbreaks such as the Ebola epidemic and the Zika virus.
He is a TED fellow and winner of the 2016 Rosalind Franklin Award Lecture and the
2012 Wellcome Trust Science Writing Prize.