In this piece, I would like to make a brief but comprehensive list of learning material recommendations to kick-start your learning journey in network science.

In particular, after a brief introduction to the field of network science, I am going to list five books which include the foundations of the field as well as technical, and even hands-on progamming components. Then, I will move on and introduce five frequently used Python tools for network science to lay down the practical foundations of your network science journey, and close this selection with five tutorials I highly recommend.

What is network science?

Network science may just be called the science of connections. There are hidden networks behind any complex system, from society to cities to our nervous systems. Network science provides a universal quantitative framework to analyze and understand the various patterns in these systems. Today’s network science has found its applications in fields ranging from medicine to HR, from multimedia to urban planning, and from policy-making to fraud detection.