Read of the Week (March 29th to April 4th)

A deadly virus suddenly explodes into the population. 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’, which might spark a pandemic or bring down a financial system to the social dynamics that make loneliness catch on, The Rules of Contagion covers it all. Written by Adam Kucharski, Associate Professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, it offers compelling insights into human behaviour and explains how we can get better at predicting what happens next.