Thought Contagion: How Belief Spreads Through Society: The New Science of Memes

by Aaron Lynch

Book Overview

Fans of Douglas Hofstadter, Daniel Bennet, and Richard Dawkins (as well as science buffs and readers of Wired Magazine) will revel in Aaron Lynch's groundbreaking examination of memetics -- the new study of how ideas and beliefs spread. What characterizes a meme is its capacity for displacing rival ideas and beliefs in an evolutionary drama that determines and changes the way people think. Exactly how do ideas spread, and what are the factors...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0465084672
• ISBN13: 9780465084678
• Release Date: November 1998
• Publisher: Basic Books
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.53 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

A Great Overview of Memetics

This slim volume is just packed with information about memetics and meme transmission. Beginning with a review of how memes spread, the book then goes into a whirlwind tour of memetic analyses that intrigue as well as educate. Lynch's writing is well-balanced and intelligent, and his analyses are quite fascinating. Be sure to check out his website at http://www.thoughtcontagion.com, where you can find more memetic analyses and excerpts from an upcoming project.If you're looking for an introduction to memetics, this is definitely the best book I've found on the subject (though of course you should read Dawkins' "The Selfish Gene" too). Need more (or more wide-ranging) information? Try http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/DEFAULT.html (Principia Cybernetica Web) or http://library.thinkquest.org/C004367 (Replicators: Evolutionary Powerhouses).

Another Brilliant Work from a Great and Original Thinker

I learned about this book by reading Lynch's excellent article "Thought Contagions in the Stock Market" in the Journal of Psychology and Financial Markets. The article only hints at how widely the new tools of thought contagion analysis apply beyond the financial markets. But when I bought the book, I was not disappointed at all. While the book is written on a level that everyone can understand, the scientific ideas it proposes will have lasting significance in social theory, philosophy, and policy making.

Valuable Insights

Aaron Lynch is an ex-Fermilab physicist who co-independently discovered the meme in 1978, and has been researching memetics full-time since 1986. His work has been cited by Douglas Hofstadter as important, and he co-edits the online peer-reviewed 'Journal of Memetics'.'Thought Contagion' is the first mainstream book published on this new science, and has some excellent early chapters on the history of memetics, and importantly, the relationship between memetics and other sciences such as socio-biology, epidemiology, and the social sciences. Lynch draws on the earlier work of Dawkins, Dennett, and Hofstadter to present a solid scientific model, which he has developed elsewhere via extensive mathematical proofs.The presentation of propagation modes is more precise and scientific than a more populist evolutionary psychology/drives-hot button influenced work like Richard Brodie's 'Virus of the Mind' (Integral Press, 1996). Brodie has interestingly admitted that Lynch actually began his work before Brodie did, and that Lynch's book was stalled by a careful peer-review process (leaving aside the heated Brodie/Lynch debates on the future direction of memetics and its public presentation). The bibliography is also incredibly useful. Lynch's writing is crisp and clear, very readable but also very serious. Lynch wants to convince you, and often succeeds.Where most memetics books become controversial is in their analysis of contemporary social issues. For many readers, the archetypal book on memetics is still to be written, but the science is still in its infancy, and has developed much over the past several years.Lynch does an admirable job of examining a broad range of issues, from the prevalence of different forms of religious fundamentalism and talk-show/advocacy journalism politics to debates on human sexuality, drug addiction, and gun control. The latter are so hotly debated that Lynch is likely to come across sounding subdued compared to typical media hype. But this is a scientist talking rationally, not a journalist.Lynch is at his best when he takes an indepth case-study approach, backing up his arguments with scientific data and graphs (a sample case-study on the Amish is presented in the opening chapter, and is available online). Readers are more likely to disagree with his handling of other issues, and not look at either his presentation, or how he subtly works thought contagion theory into his arguments. It takes several readings to appreciate his sections on linguistics and abstract mathematics as well.Definitely worth reading, Lynch's book was the first to give a serious indication of the potential of memetics as a valid new science, and to hint at powerful social applications. Lynch continues to reveal and further develop his key models, important mathematical proofs, and real-world applications.

Excellent read for the layman

Although this book doesn't contain much in the way of research it is an excellent primer to the field. I thought the book was fascinating and explained the concept extremely well with numerous examples to back up the concept. Although some other reviewers complain about the lack of research Lynch explains this in the book stating that the purpose of writing it is to stimulate research much as Darwin's "Origin of the Species" did.

Great intro to an emerging field

Gee, I don't know what book all these other folks read, but I thought this book was an excellent foundation to a complex a fascinating field. This is a primer for good mental hygine.