Ranking

“Drawing upon a remarkable range of disciplines, field studies, and historical insights, Érdi expertly reveals the hidden social and cognitive dynamics that inform our never-ending hunger to assign metrics to social life. With great nuance and a keen eye for detail, Érdi takes us through how supposedly straightforward processes of measurement, comparison, prioritization, and reputation management are fraught with bias and complex hidden socialvalues. Ranking is an analytical tour-de-force and a joy to read, going straight to the top of my list of indispensable works on social hierarchy.”– Alexander Cooley, Director, Harriman Institute, Columbia University”As my grandmother used to say, if your actions are based on comparisons with others, you’ll never enjoy life. But as Ranking shows – with lucid examples from practically every sphere of human endeavor – we humans can’t help but compare ourselves to others. So who’s the best at revealing the principles and mechanisms that underpin the ubiquitous tendency to compare? The pantomathic Péter Érdi, that’s who! Érdi’s book, writtenwith insight and humor, is a delightful read. I learned a lot from it, as will any individual or organization interested in this enduring aspect of the human condition-in comparing better and choosing wisely.“– - J. A. Scott Kelso, Glenwood and Martha Creech Eminent Scholar in Science, Florida Atlantic University; Professor Emeritus of Computational Neuroscience, Ulster University”Most parents know their children are above average-sure proof of the subjectivity of ratings. With a light touch, combining personal experience, findings from biology and sociology and more, and with witty asides, Péter Érdi explains why Top 10 Lists fascinate us, and how to temper subjectivity with hard data when ratings and rankings truly matter.“– Michael Arbib, Author and Editor of more than forty books, from his pioneering Brains, Machines, and Mathematics to How the Brain Got Language: The Mirror System Hypothesis”Rankings are essential in our lives-they determine the education we receive, the jobs we qualify for, the books we read, and the music we listen to. In Ranking, Péter Érdi’s vivid prose brings us the science of rankings. Using examples from politics to culture, he shows how these patterns determine who wins and who loses the ranking game.“– Albert-László Barabási, Professor of Network Science, Northeastern University and Harvard Medical School; author of The Formula: The Universal Laws of Success

Dr. Érdi is the Henry R. Luce Professor of Complex Systems Studies at Kalamazoo College. He is also a research professor in Budapest at the Wigner Research Centre of Physics of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Additionally, he is the founding co-director of the Budapest Semester in Cognitive Science. Péter is a Member of the Board of Governors of the International Neural Network Society, the past Vice President of Membership of the International Neural Network Society, and the Editor-in-Chief of Cognitive Systems Research.