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Bestselling author Nassim Nicholas Taleb continues his exploration of randomness in his fascinating new book, The Black Swan, in which he examines the influence of highly improbable and unpredictable events that have massive impact. Engaging and enlightening, The Black Swan is a book that may change the way you think about the world, a book that Chris Anderson calls, "a delightful romp through history, economics, and the frailties of human nature." See Anderson's entire guest review below.
Guest Reviewer: Chris Anderson
Chris Anderson is editor-in-chief of Wired magazine and the author of The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business Is Selling Less of More.
Four hundred years ago, Francis Bacon warned that our minds are wired to deceive us. "Beware the fallacies into which undisciplined thinkers most easily fall--they are the real distorting prisms of human nature." Chief among them: "Assuming more order than exists in chaotic nature." Now consider the typical stock market report: "Today investors bid shares down out of concern over Iranian oil production." Sigh. We're still doing it.
Our brains are wired for narrative, not statistical uncertainty. And so we tell ourselves simple stories to explain complex thing we don't--and, most importantly, can't--know. The truth is that we have no idea why stock markets go up or down on any given day, and whatever reason we give is sure to be grossly simplified, if not flat out wrong.
Nassim Nicholas Taleb first made this argument in Fooled by Randomness, an engaging look at the history and reasons for our predilection for self-deception when it comes to statistics. Now, in The Black Swan: the Impact of the Highly Improbable, he focuses on that most dismal of sciences, predicting the future. Forecasting is not just at the heart of Wall Street, but it's something each of us does every time we make an insurance payment or strap on a seat belt.
The problem, Nassim explains, is that we place too much weight on the odds that past events will repeat (diligently trying to follow the path of the "millionaire next door," when unrepeatable chance is a better explanation). Instead, the really important events are rare and unpredictable. He calls them Black Swans, which is a reference to a 17th century philosophical thought experiment. In Europe all anyone had ever seen were white swans; indeed, "all swans are white" had long been used as the standard example of a scientific truth. So what was the chance of seeing a black one? Impossible to calculate, or at least they were until 1697, when explorers found Cygnus atratus in Australia.
Nassim argues that most of the really big events in our world are rare and unpredictable, and thus trying to extract generalizable stories to explain them may be emotionally satisfying, but it's practically useless. September 11th is one such example, and stock market crashes are another. Or, as he puts it, "History does not crawl, it jumps." Our assumptions grow out of the bell-curve predictability of what he calls "Mediocristan," while our world is really shaped by the wild powerlaw swings of "Extremistan."
In full disclosure, I'm a long admirer of Taleb's work and a few of my comments on drafts found their way into the book. I, too, look at the world through the powerlaw lens, and I too find that it reveals how many of our assumptions are wrong. But Taleb takes this to a new level with a delightful romp through history, economics, and the frailties of human nature. --Chris Anderson
Book Description
A black swan is a highly improbable event with three principal characteristics: It is unpredictable; it carries a massive impact; and, after the fact, we concoct an explanation that makes it appear less random, and more predictable, than it was. The astonishing success of Google was a black swan; so was 9/11. For Nassim Nicholas Taleb, black swans underlie almost everything about our world, from the rise of religions to events in our own personal lives.
Why do we not acknowledge the phenomenon of black swans until after they occur? Part of the answer, according to Taleb, is that humans are hardwired to learn specifics when they should be focused on generalities. We concentrate on things we already know and time and time again fail to take into consideration what we don’t know. We are, therefore, unable to truly estimate opportunities, too vulnerable to the impulse to simplify, narrate, and categorize, and not open enough to rewarding those who can imagine the “impossible.”
For years, Taleb has studied how we fool ourselves into thinking we know more than we actually do. We restrict our thinking to the irrelevant and inconsequential, while large events continue to surprise us and shape our world. Now, in this revelatory book, Taleb explains everything we know about what we don’t know. He offers surprisingly simple tricks for dealing with black swans and benefiting from them.
Elegant, startling, and universal in its applications The Black Swan will change the way you look at the world. Taleb is a vastly entertaining writer, with wit, irreverence, and unusual stories to tell. He has a polymathic command of subjects ranging from cognitive science to business to probability theory. The Black Swan is a landmark book–itself a black swan.
Customer Reviews:
good read, interesting arguments but a bit naive.......2007-10-09
i read both books by mr. taleb (black swan and fooled by randomness) last week. i enjoyed both, although i think he made the point about the futility of inductive reasoning more persuasively in the randomness book. both argue the same point with different emphasis. in black swan, he even undertake a bit of advising, akin to list of things to do so that you don't get harmed by black swans.
often, but not for too long, i get exasperated by his desire to grind an ax: his constant put downs on economists, mba's and journalists. i can see his point that math has a lot to teach to those ignorant of subtle complexities of probability theories, but the pompous (but quite entertaining) name calling is just not necessary. having said that, he did toned down a bit in the black swan book, so if you prefer something more spicy, read the randomness book first.
mr taleb has done a good job at presenting an interesting hypothesis, i am waiting for his scholarly works to prove he is not just exercising litearary rights to fill his pocket the lazy way.
things to watch for: when he goes over how useless econmists are, he makes broad assumptions about the neo-classical econ approach. this shows that he is rather naive of this "soft" science. one point in case, there is this concept called opportunity cost, it matters when making rational decisions. he just ignored it or perhaps was not aware of its central role in how economics study the world. simlarly, we all know that models make assumptions, some are more extreme than others. they serve a purpose, benchmarking. no one expects to find a perfectly competitive market (i think there is one close to it, the commodity market), but that is NOT the point.
in sum, highly enjoyable book. taleb is at his bests explaining intuitively statistics. does a good job in criticizing inductive reasoning, but a terrible job at justifying the put downs on economics.
The Power of What We Do Not Know.......2007-10-09
Well written, informative and just a little out of the box. Taleb veers so slowly off the beaten path so as to allow the reader can adapt. In the end, the typical reader believes he/she "knew all that all along." Nice Work. Mastery.
Foggy premise presented by an arrogant author.......2007-10-08
Really can't understand all the great reviews of this book. The author THINKS he's witty, when he's really just showing off his arrogance. Trust me, he's no Larry David....as one other reviewer seemed to think.
But the real letdown of this book is his foggy writing, which is almost always a sign of foggy thinking. And to MAKE UP one of his prime examples (the author with the unpronounceable Slavic name) and then to continue to bring up other examples using "her" is simply lazy research and writing. If his premise is so true, surely he can find real life examples to share with us. He probably intimidated his editor so much that this really annoying writing style was not challenged by the publisher. A layperson can find many better books written on the subject of randomness.
Great book .......2007-10-08
Nassim Nicholas has written a very important book. The first chapters seemed a bit slow but once he got going (or maybe I got thinking) I could not stop. Anyone making any type of business, marketing, or investment decision and relies on prediction needs to read this book. My hat is off to him as a writer and a big picture thinker.
Very thoughtful and enlightening book.......2007-10-02
Taleb has a winner here. The book brings a new slant to what really drives almost every trend. Often the stock traders and predictors of political events are not just wrong, but dead wrong. The reasons for these mistakes and others are explained in entertaining fashion in this book "The Black Swan".
Book Description
In this provocative book, leadership experts and authors of the best-selling The Leadership Challenge, Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner take on a unique challenge and explore the question of leadership and legacy. Kouzes and Posner examine in twenty-two chapters the critical questions all leaders must ask themselves in order to leave a lasting impact. These powerful essays are grouped into four categories: Significance, Relationships, Aspirations, and Courage. In each essay the authors consider a thorny and often ambiguous issue with which today’s leaders must grapple issues—such as how leaders serve and sacrifice, why leaders need loving critics, why leaders should want to be liked, why leaders can't take trust for granted, why it’s not just the leader’s vision, why failure is always an option, why it takes courage to “make a life,” how to liberate the leader in everyone, and ultimately, how the legacy you leave is the life you lead.
Customer Reviews:
This book offers both a window and a mirror........2007-08-30
In twenty-one separate but related essays that comprise this volume, James Kouzes and Barry Posner share their thoughts about the positive and enduring impact that an effective leader can have. The nature and extent of each effective leader's legacy, of course, varies from one to another. While reading the Introduction and then the first few chapters, I began to think about great leaders throughout history such as Jesus, Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill, and Mohandas Gandhi. Obviously, there are differences between and among them and other great leaders in terms of when and where they lived, the circumstances in which they were born and raised, and the challenges they faced. However, all of them had a vision of what ought to be as well as an absolute faith that it could be fulfilled, they attracted the support of others who shared their vision and their faith, and they possessed what Bill George characterizes as "authenticity."
Also as I read this book, I thought about the film It's a Wonderful Life in which George Bailey (portrayed by James Stewart) is given the opportunity to know what would have happened, and not have happened, had he not lived. He eventually realizes that the quality and value of his own life are best measured by the quality and value he gives to the lives of others. That is his "legacy," the core concept that Kouzes and Posner rigorously examine throughout their book. A simple idea? Yes and no. We are well-advised to remember Oliver Wendell Holmes' assertion, "I would not give a fig for the simplicity this side of complexity, but I would give my life for the simplicity on the other side of complexity."
Kouzes and Posner are persistent empiricists and diehard pragmatists. They devote almost all of their attention in this book - as they do in their previously published classic, The Leadership Challenge - to the practice of effective leadership. Their observations and insights are based on decades of research that included hundreds of interviews and responses to surveys from thousands of leaders within all manner of organizations throughout the world. What they learned is what they share in their two books, this one and the aforementioned The Leadership Challenge.
Here are two brief composite excerpts that, I hope, suggest the thrust and flavor of their thinking:
Not a week goes by "that we don't hear someone in an executive role say something to this effect: `I don't care if people like me. I just want them to respect me." Get real! This statement is utter nonsense - contrary to everything we know about leadership...people perform significantly more effectively when their leaders treat them with dignity and respect, listen to them, support them, recognize, make them feel important, build their skills, and show confidence in them. Likeability is a major factor in being successful in just about every endeavor in life."
"You can leave a lasting legacy only if you can imagine a brighter future, and the capacity to imagine exciting future possibilities is the defining competence of leaders. Today's leaders have to be concerned about tomorrow's world and those who will inherit it. They are the custodians of the future, and it's their job to make sure that they leave their organizations in better shape than they found them. We've surveyed thousands of people on what they want in leaders, and their tell us that being forward-thinking is second only to honesty as their most admired leader quality...Get everyone involved in asking, What's next?...Another crucial question is, What's better? What's better than what you're now doing or anticipate doing in the foreseeable future?...It's imperative that we spend less time on daily operations and more time on future possibilities."
If you think these remarks are simplistic, please read the Holmes quotation.
I wholly agree with James Kouzes and Barry Posner that, ultimately, a leader's "legacy" should be determined by the nature and extent of her or his positive and enduring impact on the lives of those with whom they have been associated as well as those with whom there may be only a brief and single encounter. "You just never know whose life you might touch. You just never know what change you might initiate and what impact you might have. You just never know when that critical moment might come. What you do know is that you can make a difference. You can leave the world better than you found it."
To those who read this commentary, I suggest asking the same question I ask myself each day: "What will my legacy be?"
Handy tips on becoming a successful leader .......2007-05-24
This easy-to-read, well-organized inspirational book shows you in 21 short chapters what it takes to become a leader. The essays are concise and transparent, and the numerous examples will inspire anyone who needs a boost in leadership energy. Some material is repeated, basic or familiar, but the book offers a great deal of wisdom about motivational leadership and making your mark. If you'd like a short but solid manual on leadership issues to read on the airplane or over the weekend, we recommend tossing this into your carry-on or briefcase.
The Best yet !.......2007-01-31
Stretching back to the 80's, I seen and heard nearly the full gamut of Kouzes and Posner's contributions. This book strikes a uniquely authentic chord. By itself, the section on Courage is worth the price of the whole book. It is a work that captures both the emotion and practicality of leadership. Not an easy task!
A must read!.......2007-01-25
My boss gave me this book to read for a group of college students that I am advising. I thought it was an "academic" book that wouldn't hold my attention. How wrong was I!!!!!!!!!!
This book is a must read for anyone desiring to get a grasp on their leadership philosophy. A lot of the principles outlined in the book are not foreign, but are finally articulated in a way that everyone can understand. I had several 'aha' moments. Or moments where I thought, "I do that"!
The book was confirming and affirming. I plan to read some other works by them.
A Leaders Legacy.......2007-01-15
Great and simple for those of us who are serious yet just beginning!
Average customer rating:
- Point of Impact- HITS THE MARK
- A Great Read!
- Oh come on!
- One of the best action-packed book I had in years...
- A must-read, overlooked Classic!
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Point of Impact
Stephen Hunter
Manufacturer: Bantam
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ASIN: 0553563513
Release Date: 1993-11-01 |
Book Description
He was one the best Marine snipers in Vietnam. Today, twenty years later, disgruntled hero of an unheroic war, all Bob Lee Swagger wants to be left alone and to leave the killing behind.
But with consummate psychological skill, a shadowy military organization seduces Bob into leaving his beloved Arkansas hills for one last mission for his country, unaware until too late that the game is rigged.
The assassination plot is executed to perfection—until Bob Lee Swagger, alleged lone gunman, comes out of the operation alive, the target of a nationwide manhunt, his only allies a woman he just met and a discredited FBI agent.
Now Bob Lee Swagger is on the run, using his lethal skills once more—but this time to track down the men who set him up and to break a dark conspiracy aimed at the very heart of America.
Customer Reviews:
Point of Impact- HITS THE MARK.......2007-10-06
Point of Impact
This book is the screenplay for the movie "Shooter". I first read the book about twelve years ago, it was so superb that it stuck with me. I was convinced that it was the basis for the very exciting movie, after some resaearch online, I was proven right. I read on average of three books a month and "Point of Impact" is on my top five ever. Bob Lee swagger uses his most accurate shots in the climactic courtroom scene, and the reader is left grinning and wanting a sequel.
A Great Read!.......2007-09-16
Clancy-like technical writing and Ludlam-like action. Throw in Grisham for good measure and you won't put thisbook down. The action just keeps on coming. Some brilliant writing that made a good movie (but the book was much better, as usual). Highly recommend this one.
Oh come on!.......2007-08-01
This has to be one of the worst suspense novels I've ever read. Stephen Hunter makes a number of technical errors and implausible scenarios to try to make up for his wooden prose and lack of understanding of the shooter's culture.
- For instance, early on he claims that a villain carries an "automatic shotgun" under his coat. Then a chapter later he changes it to a "pump shotgun". Sure Benelli makes the M3 Super 90 now, but it's clear that Hunter doesn't know this (was the M3 even in existence when he wrote the book?). He just fails to pay attention to detail.
- Then he places the hero on a hilltop, has him rapid fire over 45 rounds through a .308 with hot hand loads at moving targets at variable distances, hero never misses, over a 145 men turn tail and run, then he fires a shot at over 1,200 yards offhand (or kneeling) and hits all three rounds on a single concealed target. Of course Hunter probably believes that a bull barrel might make up for heat stress but...oops, he forgets to have that particular rifle bull barreled (which probably wouldn't help anyway).
- Oh, and let's not forget the main premise of the whole story: hero fires a bullet through his rifle, villains recover the bullet, put it through a slightly larger barrel with a paper patch or sabot, bad guy then makes a precision kill at well over 1,500 yards. Yeah....right.
- The poor woman hostage has a bad guy tape a shotgun to her head with his finger on the trigger. The hero blows off the guy's arm at the elbow.... at six feet... with 00 buck... firing from the hip. Somehow he miraculously misses the woman (who was supposed to be between the two antagonists). She falls backward on the gun and severed arm and the shotgun doesn't go off. Then the hero goes through a gut-wrenching worry fest while trying to disconnect the girl from the shotgun because he's worried the gun might go off with the bad guy's finger perched on the trigger. *GROAN* THEN he takes the arm/shotgun and tosses it "as far away as he could".... so he just spent five minutes worrying that it might go off and then he hap-hapzardly launches it through the air.
The story line is weak. The dialog is unimaginative and dependent on cultural cliches. The characters are one-dimensional to the extreme. There is no suspense and everything in the end plays out exactly as you would expect it to from such a formulaic plot line. The only piece of mystery in the whole story is so implausible that you'll laugh at it when Hunter finally deems to tell you his big mystery.
If you know very little about guns (or just enough to write a hack novel) or don't particularly care about good writing then you will probably like this book.
One of the best action-packed book I had in years..........2007-07-27
Stephen Hunter really did a good job in packing all the actions and excitement into one book. Very well laid out plots and you could really feel the characters. It was so breath-taking that you just kept on turning the pages...
A must-read, overlooked Classic!.......2007-07-10
What makes this book great:
1. Ever imagined a scenario of one man against the world? We've all seen movies or read books about people overcoming insurmountable odds. But Vietnam Veteran Bob's foes are tougher than all of them. Mentally, they have him beat. Some of the most devious minds have come together to plan the perfect conspiracy. If that isn't enough, a shamed, but ingenious evil psychiatrist has Bob all figured out. He knows his fears and weaknesses. The bad-guys certainly have more connections than Bob. The entire U.S. Government and mass media is intent on ending his life. In terms of firepower, even discounting the nation's law enforcement personal, and the hand-picked group of ex-military types that personally hate Bob, a well-trained and battle-hardened group of Central American commandos are poised to fill our hero with bullets. If Bob's lucky, he'll get a long range rifle, an incompetent ex-FBI agent, and an 80 year old southern lawyer to help him out. If he's unlucky, maybe he gets a .45 ACP and the Ouachita Mountains. How can it get any better than this?
2. Tension and uncertainty aren't great things in life, but they are when you're reading a suspense novel. This book is packed with plot twists and unexpected turns. A book that has believable, yet riveting, surprises is the kind of book that I want to read. Stephen Hunter incorporated plenty of this into "Point of Impact."
3. Sometimes a passionate romantic encounter, sporting event, or life threatening situation will make your heart accelerate, but how about a book? This book is more than a slowly decaying lump of processed wood and splattered ink. This book will make your heart thump, thunder, and accelerate. I found my eyes racing through paragraphs during the multiple climaxes in this book.
4. Awaiting the revenge part. This book has some disgusting villains that badly need to be punished for their atrocities. This can be a fulfilling thing to read about. And you're guaranteed to keep turning the pages until the evil-doers get what's coming to them.
5. Appreciate a good conspiracy? Or would you rather see it come unraveled by the hands of a real American hero? In this book, we have the perfect conspiracy. You won't see a more immaculate frame-up. Even if you hate the undercover villians, you'll appreciate their professionalism as they plan to send Bob the Nailer, and a few innocents, to their doom. The best part is seeing the conspiracy fall apart, though.
6. Better than the movie "Shooter." We've all heard this adage before, so there is no use in me repeating it. Just trust me on this one.
7. If you appreciate guns and marksmanship, then that's something else you'll like about this book. Some of the calibers might be foreign to you if you're a novice like me, but if you like target shooting or gun collecting, this book will really resonate with you.
So what are you waiting for? Get lost in a world of suspense, intrigue, guile, and all those other adjectives for a few hours. Give your brain a kick, figuratively of course. You can let Bob Lee Swagger be your guide and not risk being picked off at the top of a hill.
Here's some more stuff about the book if you're eager.
Characters:
Bob Lee Swagger: AKA Bob the Nailer. A Vietnam vet with a reputation for superb sniping abilities. He is not without battle scars, both mental and physical. Physically, he was shot in the hip by a sniper during Vietnam. Mentally he has problems too. After Bob got shot in the leg, his best friend Donny Fenn tried to save him and got killed in the process. Bob came back from Vietnam and went through some difficult times and finally settled down in a lonely cabin in rural Arkansas. He has no companions but a handful of friends that he spoke to on occasion. He also has his dog. His life consists of collecting his checks from his services to the armed forces and shooting. Shooting is his only passion and pastime. He methodically hones his rifles to perfection on a daily basis. This hobby is a form of escape really. Bob shoots targets and forgets about everything else in life. Bob is intensely patriotic and never lost his southern humor, despite the hardships and setbacks that he has faced. Something about his psychological profile convinced a handful of masterminds that he would be the prime fall guy for their assassination plot. Swagger shows what he has left in him as he struggles against what appear to be insurmountable odds.
Nick Memphis: All Nick ever wanted was to be an FBI agent. Early in his career he landed the prestigious position of sniper for the FBI. In a hostage situation, he was in the position to take the shot at the deranged criminal. Perhaps due to his own nerves; or perhaps because of the commanding officer barking orders as loud as possible into his ear piece, Nick messed up the shot in the worst possible way and hit the hostage in the spine. As a result, his career took a dive. He lost his sniper position and was reassigned to the FBI headquarters in New Orleans. He married the wheelchair bound woman that he hit in the spine that terrible day. They surprisingly build a loving relationship. But everything takes a turn for the worse when she passes away. Sometimes unsure of himself and plagued with bad luck, Nick does his best to be a stellar agent but things just never seem to work out for him. Despite his work ethic and loyalty, he struggles to not get fired as he works for the FBI. Everything is elevated when he finds himself in the middle of the investigation and chase to capture Bob the Nailer.
Jack Payne and Colonel Shreck are ex-elite military veterans. They are the muscle behind the assassination and conspiracy plot.
Dr. Dobbler is an evil psychiatrist who no longer has a license. But this does not keep him from working for a covert front that might be loosely connected to the CIA. He's got Bob's profile.
There are more villains than meets the eye. Among them is a brutal Central American General, government law enforcement agents, a local policeman or two, and perhaps some government officials that are pretty high up. There is also another sniper, and evil one. He seems to be the opposite of Bob, and he might even be more skilled.
Plot summary:
Bob is at home, minding his own business, when a handful of strangers show up at his rural Arkansas trailer. Bob does not want to talk to them initially, but one of them flips him his congressional medal of honor and Bob listens to him in part as his patriotic duty. The strangers have a wonderful proposition for him. They are representatives of a cutting edge ammunition company that has designed a process to make the most accurate and reliable rounds in the world. They need a top notch marksman like Bob the Nailer to sample their product, endorse it, and represent it. But to make sure Bob endorses the product in good faith, they invite him to test the ammunition at their facility. Bob starts out with some simple tests; firing and checking the marking of different kinds of ammunition, including the new company's ammunition and Bob's custom loads. Just to show Bob that the ammunition was truly phenomenal, the mysterious company had Bob simulate some real life sniping events. During the final event, Bob simulated the murder of a drug-cartel Kingpin from several hundred yards. By the force of some ingenious psychological manipulation that will not be revealed in this review, Bob becomes angered and nearly traumatized. The whole ammunition bit was a set up to lure Bob into a covert operation to protect the President of the United States!
Bob's new covert allies inform Bob that they have obtained top secret knowledge that the man who shot Bob and killed Bob's best friend, Donny Fenn, during Vietnam, was planning on killing the president. They needed his sniping expertise to find out more information so that they could stop the terrible event.
To Bob's surprise, he is set up and framed for the assassination attempt (and murder). Now he has the entire federal government, and local law enforcement personal, and everyone else in the country on his tail.
Bob has a two goals, vengenance and clearing his name. The first goal is greater than the first. Somewhere over the course of the book, Bob's character develops in the midst of these hardships and he acquires a third goal. He wants to start a new life. He seeks to emerge from the hermit-like existence that has consumed him in rural Arkansas and find love and family like many other Americans. Bob is up against top secret organizations and powerfully efficient foes. He must utilize stealth and violence to survive.
One of my favorite parts of the book is when our wrongly accused sniper matches his jungle fighting prowess with a sizable group of Central American commandos.
This book successfully manages to have multiple climaxes in a way that other books fall short. The first climax involves multiple master snipers, elite villains, psychological manipulation, and involves Bob going toe to toe with the evilest of covert, conspiring, and absolutely brutal villains.
The second climax is Bob matching his wits with the sharpest young (and old) minds of the federal government.
I'm not sure which of the climaxes was more exciting, although the second one is a bit further outside of Bob's area of expertise.
The book is highly recommended. It is the kind of book that you read for enjoyment, and it is a classic in this regard. Very few books (if any) surpass this work in its ability to show the reader a good time.
Book Description
Since the first edition of this landmark book was published in 1962, Everett Rogers's name has become "virtually synonymous with the study of diffusion of innovations," according to Choice. The second and third editions of Diffusion of Innovations became the standard textbook and reference on diffusion studies. Now, in the fourth edition, Rogers presents the culmination of more than thirty years of research that will set a new standard for analysis and inquiry.
The fourth edition is (1) a revision of the theoretical framework and the research evidence supporting this model of diffusion, and (2) a new intellectual venture, in that new concepts and new theoretical viewpoints are introduced. This edition differs from its predecessors in that it takes a much more critical stance in its review and synthesis of 5,000 diffusion publications. During the past thirty years or so, diffusion research has grown to be widely recognized, applied and admired, but it has also been subjected to both constructive and destructive criticism. This criticism is due in large part to the stereotyped and limited ways in which many diffusion scholars have defined the scope and method of their field of study. Rogers analyzes the limitations of previous diffusion studies, showing, for example, that the convergence model, by which participants create and share information to reach a mutual understanding, more accurately describes diffusion in most cases than the linear model.
Rogers provides an entirely new set of case examples, from the Balinese Water Temple to Nintendo videogames, that beautifully illustrate his expansive research, as well as a completely revised bibliography covering all relevant diffusion scholarship in the past decade. Most important, he discusses recent research and current topics, including social marketing, forecasting the rate of adoption, technology transfer, and more. This all-inclusive work will be essential reading for scholars and students in the fields of communications, marketing, geography, economic development, political science, sociology, and other related fields for generations to come.
Download Description
"Now in its fifth edition, Diffusion of Innovations is a classic work on the spread of new ideas. It has sold 30,000 copies in each edition and will continue to reach a huge academic audience. In this renowned book, Everett M. Rogers, professor and chair of the Department of Communication & Journalism at the University of New Mexico, explains how new ideas spread via communication channels over time. Such innovations are initially perceived as uncertain and even risky. To overcome this uncertainty, most people seek out others like themselves who have already adopted the new idea. Thus the diffusion process consists of a few individuals who first adopt an innovation, then spread the word among their circle of acquaintances--a process which typically takes months or years. But there are exceptions: use of the Internet in the 1990s, for example, may have spread more rapidly than any other innovation in the history of humankind. Furthermore, the Internet is changing the very nature of diffusion by decreasing the importance of physical distance between people. The fifth edition addresses the spread of the Internet, and how it has transformed the way human beings communicate and adopt new ideas."
Customer Reviews:
Interesting.......2007-09-12
This book is fascinating. It discusses the spread of ideas and products through communities, how they spread and why. Rogers breaks down the process and describes different categories of people depending on when they take up the innovation. This book is very readable, and although written by an academic, not written in academese. It covers various domains of interest (agriculture, sociology, marketing) and has something for everyone.
The one thing I think Rogers has missed is subjective norm. Not only do people weigh the relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, trialability and observability, but they also weigh up what they believe their personal network believes what they should do.
For instance, I will do something that someone important (to me)tells me to do, even if I personally find it silly, simply because I put enough weight and consideration into what I believe is their opinion.
Rogers gets close to that with the discussion of personal networks and adoption of innovations by organisations, but still misses the point. That is why this book only gets four stars, from me.
Excellent.......2007-08-10
Very insightful. A must read for a variety of academic disciplines. I don't know that I've been in a professor's office at my university and not seen this book on the shelf!
Diffusion of Innovations--The scientific framework of lessons learned.......2007-06-12
As a physician who has had the pleasure to experience life-changing innovations in his medical career, the chance to read Dr Rogers book on Innovation has been a real delight. Technology has changed so much around us in the last half of the 20th century that we can scarcely describe what life was like before "the innovation".
To my friends who happen to be innovators, early adaptors, beta testers and entrepreneurs, I recommend the book to provide the scientific disicpline with its glossary, case reports, primary scientific citations and organization of innovation theory that ones needs if one is in an "innovation" field and wishes to communicate professionally.
To the casual reader who is fascinated by the world around him/her and wishes to explore innovation scientifically, then this should be considered the "primer".
A textbook in disquise..........2007-02-15
This is a textbook in disquise. The information is good, but could be summarized better and in a more consise manner.
Good reference material...
most excellent piece of work on diffusion of innovation.......2006-12-26
There are several well written books on innovation but this is one of the most excellent piece of work on diffusion of innovation. Though if we look at history, research on the diffusion of innovations model began with the Bryce and Gross' (1943) investigation of the diffusion of hybrid seed corn among Iowa farmers. They explained how it came to attention and which of two channels (i.e., mass communication and interpersonal communication with peers) led farmers to adopt the new innovation.
But Rogers has further discussed the five characteristics of a technology acceptance - 1) relative advantage, the extent to which it offers improvements over available tools, 2) compatibility, its consistency with social practices and norms among its users, 3) complexity, its ease of use or learning, 4) trialability, the opportunity to try an innovation before committing to use it, 5) observability, the extent to which the technology's gains are clear to see.
Average customer rating:
- Readable text- odd images
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Resources of the Earth: Origin, Use, and Environmental Impact (3rd Edition)
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ASIN: 0130834106 |
Book Description
Extensively illustrated, balanced, broad-based, and up-to-date, this book explores the nature and critical issues of all major types of earth resources--energy, metallic, nonmetallic, water, soil--and the impacts that resource usage has on the earth environment. It provides geologic background of resource formation and occurrence of most of the various types of resources; offers an international perspective; discusses resources not only from the scientific point of view, but also from the point of economic, political, historical considerations; and considers how the extraction and use of the resources creates impacts--local or global, immediate or delayed, visible or invisible, singular or cumulative. Minerals: The Foundations of Society. Plate Tectonics and The Origins of Mineral Resources. Earth's Resources Through History. Environmental Impacts of Resource Exploitation and Use. Energy from Fossil Fuels. Nuclear Power and Alternative Energy Sources. Abundant Metals. The Geochemically Scare Metals. Fertilizer and Chemical Minerals. Building Materials and Other Industrial Minerals. Water Resources. Soil as a Resource. Future Resources. For anyone interested in earth resources.
Customer Reviews:
Readable text- odd images.......2006-10-29
I enjoyed reading about natural resources in this textbook format, and have gone back to re-read chapters repeatedly. I found this text's approach much more enjoyable and enlightening than my prep school or college geology studies. However, the page layout of the images seemed amateurish:some photographs images were distored to fit the page.
Book Description
“The action is nonstop, the characters very real–and very different from each other–and, to coin a phrase, it makes you think.”
–S. M. Stirling, author of Island in the Sea of Time
In the year 2021 a multinational fleet–experimenting with untested weapons technology–pitched through time, crash-landing in 1942. The world is thrown into chaos as Roosevelt, Hitler, Churchill, Tojo, and Stalin scramble to adapt to new, high-tech killing tools, and twenty-first-century ways of war.
For “uptimers” like Britain’s Prince Harry and the men and women who serve aboard the supercarrier USS Hillary Clinton, war is a constant struggle with their own downtime allies, who are mired in ignorance and bigotry.
As the Allies counter the Nazi assault and set off for the coast of France, Japan begins to buckle, soon every battle will be played out in a lethal dance of might and intelligence, unholy alliances and desperate gambles, and each clash will be fought with the ultimate weapon; knowledge from the future.
Thanks to the historical records, all sides know that two superpowers will emerge, while the losers will be pounded into submission. But time has shifted on its axis, so none know who will survive, or how peace will take hold in a world turned upside down. These are the questions that John Birmingham brilliantly answers in his critically acclaimed adventure of war and imagination.
Praise for John Birmingham’s Weapons of Choice
“Birmingham’s enthralling battleground mixes provocative historical fiction and socially conscious futurism.”
–Entertainment Weekly
“High-tech intrigue and suspense similar to the works of Tom Clancy.”
–Library Journal
Customer Reviews:
A Fitting Conclusion.......2007-08-16
For anyone who's made it through the first two books this is a fitting conclusion that ties up all the story threads into a satisfying ending. Only thing is this whole series could have made a decent sized single novel. Splitting such stories into a "trilogy" seems to be the new marketing trend. Still, at least it was not three hardcovers.
Really sets up for a 4th book...perhaps a look at the world 20-30 years later and speculated impacts from the technology & culture injection.
Final Installment.......2007-07-16
This book is (apparently) the final installment in the trilogy. The pity is that it is clear that the author was looking to end the series, having set up a pretty decent alternate history universe. The book is ok, and for those who want to see what the first two evolve to, is an ok summer read. Not as interesting as the first two, and again, a pity that the author rushed to completion on it.
This is how the world war ends?.......2007-06-26
I'd rate this far higher if it wasn't advertised as a trilogy. If only we were waiting for the next book to come out. Such doesn't seem likely. For that's how the book ends- as if there's supposed to be a lot more here. Oh, sure, you get an answer to everything; everything is resolved. But in a profoundly unsatisfying manner. All this lead up, all this wonderful technology and clash of cultures, and in the end, it's all just fubar.
Unfortunately, I can't rate it any lower because Birmingham still writes in excellence. He has non-stop action and non-stop character development. You genuinely care about all the characters, and get to see many different points of view. The horror of 20th century racism and bias, and the horror of 21st century callousness are both equally displayed. Birmingham has an uncanny ability to show us both who we once were, and who we will become, all in one book. This book is prescient and a delight to read. It's the kind of book you can't put down. And then at the end, you put it down, wondering what happened to the ending. Although phenomenal writing, I leave the book feeling disappointed, because Biringham did a great job, but he could have done better.
Review of the "Axis of Time" trilogy. Overall rating: 4.4 stars.......2007-06-09
"Axis of Time" trilogy, by John Birmingham
Weapons of Choice (The Axis of Time Trilogy, Book 1, 2004)
Designated Targets (The Axis of Time Trilogy, Book 2, 2005)
Final Impact (The Axis of Time Trilogy, Book 3, 2007)
I've now read all three of John Birmingham's "Axis of Time" novels -- which amount to one long novel, so don't start at #3! -- and warmly recommend the books to mil-SF and alternate-history fans. To reprise, a naval task force from 2021 is diverted to 1942 by a DARPA teleportation experiment gone spectacularly wrong. In the confusion of the transition, the moderns sink most of Admiral Spruance's fleet, enroute to the Battle of Midway. Oops....
The three books go on to re-fight WW2, and show once again that the oldest cliche' can look fresh in the hands of a good writer with a new approach. Birmingham's innovation here is that the world of 1942 suddenly knows how the next eighty years would play out, if nothing changes. So the Big Losers -- Hitler, Tojo and Stalin -- are frantically trying to rewrite history to keep from going down in flames "again". And the winners must guard their "historic" victory... It's a riveting, twisty, violent story, and man, do those pages turn.
The Axis of Time is a good reminder of just how bad the mid-20th century was, and just how monstrous Hitler and Stalin were. And how warfare brings out the best -- and worst -- in "good" people (and bad). Some of the expedients the "good guys" resort to, to win, are appalling. Which isn't to say, not necessary....
Birmingham's near-future is a rather grim place, and the interactions of 2021 with 1942 are very nicely done. The past is a different country, and the multi-racial men and women-warriors from the 21st century make the folk of 1942 *very* uncomfortable. And vice-versa.
Birmingham, a well-known Australian humorist, is making his first venture into SF here. He's done his homework, and he's an exceptionally good storyteller. The Axis of Time books are thoughtful page-turners. His writing style and pacing are still a little rough, and there's a huge plot-logic flaw in the first book.
The books still rock. Start with the first, Weapons of Choice, and you'll soon know if the series suits your taste.
Book #3, Final Impact, ends with the end of WW2 -- the three books are WW2.1, 2.2 and 2.3 in the Birmoverse -- but with little resolution, which has upset some readers. Birmingham has a contract to continue the series into the Cold War (CW1.1, 1.2), with the next book scheduled for Fall 2007 (Australia). I'll be reading it. And you should read WW2.1--2.3. Not perfect books, but pretty darned good.
Happy reading--
Peter D. Tillman
Review first published at SF Site (link available in comment, below)
Good techno-thriller.......2007-06-06
Good action & characters, some spelling and typographical errors, read this one first and enjoyed it, but probably won't read the first two.
Book Description
Churches that bombard people with too many "little ideas" can miss the Big Idea.
Community Christian Church embraced the Big Idea and everything changed. They decided to avoid the common mistake of bombarding people with so many "little ideas" that they suffered overload. They also recognized that leaders often don't insist that the truth be lived out to accomplish Jesus' mission. Why? Because people's heads are swimming with too many little ideas, far more than they can ever apply.
Customer Reviews:
High Impact.......2007-09-25
The Big Idea is helping our pastoral staff focus. The longer you're in ministry the more you need to focus. This book is really helping our dialog about what we are doing as a church. WE have the why nailed down it is the what and how that gets diluted. Ferguson makes an interesting case for little tuths and big biblical truths that must translate into action - helpful. Dan Boyd
Overcome Information Glut & Decision Paralysis at Church.......2007-08-17
I am an information junkie. I read newspapers, magazines, books, and blogs. I watch TV and listen to talk radio. I consider myself a well-informed guy. But being well-informed is not the same thing as being wise or effective. Indeed, too much information can paralyze our ability to make decisions.
Our churches often contribute to this glut of information. The pastor preaches on one topic, Sunday school teachers teach on another, the worship leader sings new songs with multiple verses, and the announcement guy rambles on with the church's upcoming events. No wonder parishioners get stuck in their spiritual lives. They have too much information to act on. They know more than they can do.
In their new book, The Big Idea, Dave Ferguson, Jon Ferguson, and Eric Bramlett tackle the topic of information-glutted, decision-paralyzed churches. They argue that churches should teach one big idea per week, and that this big idea should be reinforced in all the church's venues (worship services, Sunday school classes, and small groups). They demonstrate the multiple benefits of the big-idea approach. And they offer practical guidelines for how to implement this model of ministry in your church based on their own experience.
Do you want to make more and better followers of Jesus Christ? Do you want to see a greater connection between people's faith and works? Then, as The Big Idea's subtitle puts it, "focus the message" so that you can "multiply the impact." Teach your parishioners one thing a week. They can do more with less.
Great book, truly, I just want the moon.......2007-05-08
This highly practical book on not just preaching, but church-wide discipleship, is written by one of the leading, Biblically conservative churches today in the areas of creative communication, team-based ministry, evangelism and leadership development. Community Christian Church in Chicago is also recognized as one of the top five leading multi-site churches.
The authors make a clear case that most of our churches send anywhere from 30 to 100 messages a week as to what we want our people to respond to in their growth. Our Sunday services, alone, often send 20-50 messages. In The Big Idea, the authors make a case for focusing the message to one Big Idea throughout the entire worship experience for the week and asking for clear response to that one idea in all areas of our church. They convincingly make the case that, in the long term, better discipleship occurs if we can yield a greater application response to the messages being sent--so people are living what they know rather than knowing far more than they live.
Don't be intimidated by the author's success and size of church--they communicate very simply. Along the way they give suggestions for how smaller churches can begin to use some or all of what they share. This is not a book about a program, rather it is a book with lots of practical leadership process steps that can be gleaned from and subsequently contextualize to your own style, leadership and setting. You will quickly note this approach to communicating for discipleship is used by their multi-site mega church as well as church plants.
After reading the first two chapters, I thought this book would make it on my top 10 list of must read leadership skills books for pastors. By the end of the book it was still in my top 25 and probably top 20. While the book is well illustrated throughout, I was left longing for just a few more varied examples. I especially was hoping that the authors would deal more with expositional preaching from the perspective of using that style of preaching to demonstrate good personal spiritual disciplines as a way of modeling. They did a very short, excellent bullet point treatment of ways to approach topical preaching--though this was the primary area I wished for more detailed illustrations of each approach (even if the examples were simply web links to sermons that could be listened to so as to learn more about how to effectively construct each kind of approach). If the authors had more extensively illustrated some of these ideas I would be telling you this is the best book on discipleship and preaching I have ever read. As it stands, it is still a great book that is sure to provide you with helpful ideas you can begin to implement quickly.
Two Thumbs Up for The Big Idea.......2007-04-11
Dave Ferguson shares some great ideas and strategies in this book. I like it because it wasn't just a "here's how we did it" church growth text...there are some philosophical principles and transferable ideas. The way that they have outlined a planning process for ministry is really helpful.
Spectacular Book.......2007-04-11
If you are searching for a way to simplify what your families are learning in church and get everyone on the same page this book is for you.
Book Description
With the radical changes in information production that the Internet has introduced, we stand at an important moment of transition, says Yochai Benkler in this thought-provoking book. The phenomenon he describes as social production is reshaping markets, while at the same time offering new opportunities to enhance individual freedom, cultural diversity, political discourse, and justice. But these results are by no means inevitable: a systematic campaign to protect the entrenched industrial information economy of the last century threatens the promise of today’s emerging networked information environment.
In this comprehensive social theory of the Internet and the networked information economy, Benkler describes how patterns of information, knowledge, and cultural production are changing—and shows that the way information and knowledge are made available can either limit or enlarge the ways people can create and express themselves. He describes the range of legal and policy choices that confront us and maintains that there is much to be gained—or lost—by the decisions we make today.
Customer Reviews:
This Book Proves the Adage that You See What You Look For.......2007-07-08
I have been hearing about Yochai Benkler's book, "The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedoms," for some time and his exposition around what he (and many others) have called the "networked information economy." Benkler, a Yale law professor, also offers his 527 page (473 in text) book as a free PDF from his web site under a Creative Commons share alike license.
First, let me say, there are a couple of worthwhile insights in the book, which I'll get to in a moment. But mostly, I found the book overly long, often off-subject, and too political for my tastes. In fairness, some of this might be due to the fact it was written in 2005 (published in 2006) and the social and participatory aspects of the Web are now widely appreciated. Yet I fear the broader problem with this polemic is that it proves the adage that you see what you look for.
Benkler's argument is that cheap processors and the Internet have removed the physical constraints on effective information production. This is in keeping with the non-proprietary nature of information as a "nonrival" good, and is also leading to the democratization of information production and the emergence of large-scale peer-produced content. Benkler generally allies himself with the camp of technology optimists. His observations about trends and new developments from Ebay to Wikipedia to SETI@home and open source software are now commonly appreciated.
With the costs of information duplication and dissemination trending to zero, the limiting factor of production becomes human creativity and effort itself. But here, too, with hundreds of millions of Internet users, just a few hours of contributed content from each can easily swamp the ability of even the largest firms to compete. These trends to Benkler presage a "radical decentralization" of information production, and many other changes to the political economy and culture.
That radical changes in the nature of information production and authorship and even the role of traditional publishers or the media are underway is without question. Purposeful collaborations like Wikipedia are now clearly successful and were not forecasted by many.
The lens, however, in which Benkler looks at all of these trends is through the "modern" history of the mass media. Citing Paul Starr's "Creation of the Media," he notes how in 15 years from 1835 to 1850 the cost of setting up a mass-circulation paper increased from $10,000 to over $2 million (in 2005 dollars). In Benkler's view, these cost increases shifted the ability to publish away from the common citizen into the "problem" hands of the mass media. Fortunately, now with the Internet and cheap processors, this evil can be reversed. Though Benkler specifically disclaims that he is not describing "an exercise in pastoral utopianism," the fact is that is exactly what he is describing.
There can be no doubt that the role of mass media and traditional publishers is under severe challenge from the emergence of the Internet. It is also the case that we are witnessing citizen publishers and authors emerge by the millions. These changes are momentous, but they do not involve everyone -- only comparatively small percentages of Internet users blog and still smaller percentages contribute to Wikipedia (about 80,000 at present based on a user base of hundreds of millions). And, as the traditional gatekeepers of printers, publishers and editors lose prominence, new institutions and mechanisms for establishing the authoritativeness and trustworthiness of content will surely need to evolve.
These real trends deserve thoughtful exploration.
However, there is a reason that publishing costs increased so rapidly in that era of the 1800s. Mass publishing and pulp paper were emerging that acted to bring an increasing storehouse of content and information to the public at levels never before seen.
The explosion of information content that occurred at this very same time correlates well with the fundamental historical changes in human wealth and economic growth. Though mass media may prove to be an historical artifact, I would argue that its role in bringing literacy and information to the "masses" was generally an unalloyed good and the basis for an improvement in economic well being the likes of which had never been seen.
By taking a narrow historical horizon and then viewing it through the lens of the vilified "mass media," Benkler is both looking in the wrong direction and missing the point.
The information by which the means to produce and disseminate information itself is changing and growing. These changes in information infrastructure support an inexorable trend to more adaptability, more wealth and more participation. What we are seeing now with the Internet is but a natural continuation of that trend. The "mass media" and the costs of information production of the 1800s was a natural phase within this longer, historical trend. The multiplier effect of information itself will continue to empower and strengthen the individual, not in spite of mass media or any other ideologically based viewpoint but due to the freeing and adaptive benefits of information itself. Information is the natural antidote to entropy and, longer term, to the concentrations of wealth and power.
By trying to push the trends of the Internet through the false needle's eye of political economics, an effort that Benkler also erroneously makes with his earlier analysis of the growth of radio, what are in essence historical forces of almost informational or technological determinism are falsely presented as matters of political choice. Hogwash.
Benkler, however, does observe two useful dimensions for measuring social collaboration efforts: modularity and granularity. By modularity, Benkler means "a property of a project that describes the extent to which it can be broken down into smaller components, or modules, that can be independently produced before they are assembled into a whole." By granularity, Benkler means "the size of the modules, in terms of the time and effort that an individual must invest in producing them."
Benkler's insight is that "the number of people who can, in principle, participate in a project is therefore inversely related to the size of the smallest scale contribution necessary to produce a usable module. The granularity of the modules therefore sets the smallest possible individual investment necessary to participate in a project. If this investment is sufficiently low, then incentives" for producing that component of a modular project can be of trivial magnitude. Most importantly for our purposes of understanding the rising role of nonmarket production, the time can be drawn from the excess time we normally dedicate to having fun and participating in social interactions."
To illustrate this effect of granularity, he contrasts Wikipedia with its simple entries and editing and bounded topics with the far-less successful Wikibooks, which has much larger granularity.
Creators of social collaboration sites are advised to keep granularity small to encourage broader contributions, and if the nature of the site is complex, to increase the number of its modules. Of course, none of this guarantees the magic or timing that also lie behind the most successful sites!
I think that Benkler's arguments could have been more effectively distilled into a 30-page article, with much of the political economy claptrap thrown out. The book is definitely worth a skim.
Phenomenal Book on Information Science and Peer Production.......2007-05-12
I first became familiar with Benkler after reading his paper, "Coase's Penguin" in undergraduate study. I was delighted to hear of the publication of this book. Benkler continues beautifully where he left off in his previous papers and synthesizes an excellent theory of social production in his book.
Benkler begins by describing the economic shape of information - it's non-rival and builds upon itself. He explains the challenges that face information, particularly the Babel Objection. Benkler also covers some legal background on aspects of a "liberal society", such as the role of commons versus private property.
From there, he makes his way into peer production. He touches different aspects of this type of production, from open source to distributed content production & filtering (click workers) to the results of the FCC's shift towards commons-based wireless policy. I found chapter 4, where he connects social production to the economic concepts discussed earlier, to be the most interesting chapter of the book.
He moves on to a lengthy discussion of the political effects of network distribution and social production, including a summary of the history of mass media and predictions about the future. From there, he lays down his argument that we ought to continue to encourage open networks and information sharing. He presents a discussion on current legislation and legal challenges to information and provides some examples of solutions.
I read this book coming out of an undergraduate program in Information Science and wished I had read this book perhaps my sophomore or junior year. Benkler essentially lays out, in linear form, the precise message that my professors were teaching. Because of networks, information science in the 21st century will not follow the traditional industrial-style of distribution but rather a distributed and non-proprietary model. Its impact is phenomenal, not only in the realm of economics and science but politics, culture, and interpersonal communication.
This book ought to be required reading for every undergraduate student studying Telecommunications, Media, or Information Science.
Good argumentation.......2007-04-28
I agree when some people say the book is not well edited (even not being english my first language I found some errors within it) but I think the greatest think about it is the attempt to explain something that it is easy to see that is happening today but nobody know why is happening. You know people write in Wikipedia and that most of them do that at their free time, you know that some people participate in great collaborative efforts to develop free software in the Internet, you know people keep blogs to express their point of view. But can you explain why that happens, why do they do that expecting no financial return or acknowledgment? What do they want? Perhaps you may know what you want when you do or don't some of that things but what about the rest of the world, if you care about it? What has changed or is changing or still must be changed in the societies so that happens?
The author doesn't explain it too but he tries to do it, it is an initial attempt to get some answers. His argumentation through the book covers many aspects of our lives, economic, political, social, antropological, legal and I think that at least at the end you will have some new insights on what is all that about.
Connectivization.......2007-04-20
Be forewarned that this brilliantly conceived book is not so brilliantly written, and the reading can be a real slog at times. Yochai Benkler is a perceptive social theorist but his thoughts are bogged down in academic writing that could really use some editing. Expect excessive introducing, foreshadowing, recapping, and summarizing, giving you the often tiresome impression that you will read Benkler's prose again or have read it before. This book also suffers from what business strategists and military tacticians would call "scope creep," as Benkler's broad theories on society and knowledge become so all-inclusive as to border on diffuseness and ineffectiveness - a problem that really slows down the middle section of the book. This is a common difficulty for vast unified theories about information and humanity, so prepare for some difficulty in following the main points that Benkler is trying to make.
But now that those warnings are out of the way, beneath Benkler's ponderous prose are insightful theories about the rise of networked culture, inspired by the digital revolution, in the face of lockdowns from entrenched power players. The initial uses of open networks inspired a megalomaniacal reaction from the industrial and political sectors, which have partially succeeded in forcing technological design changes, and persecution of new cultural behaviors, that threatened their economic and political dominance. For instance, intellectual property laws (patents, trademarks, and copyrights), which were originally meant to encourage cultural production, have been transformed by power players into tools to enforce corporate profitability. And if you think concerns over those trends are merely alarmism, Benkler provides profound evidence that damage really is being done to culture, freedom, and democracy - in ways that are far deeper and more troubling than the (corporate-inspired) popular rhetoric around piracy, rolyalties, and hackers.
Benkler informatively differentiates the types of freedom that are at stake - personal, cultural, social, and political - and ably demonstrates how each are affected by trends in infrastructure development, media behavior, corporate profiteering, and political gamesmanship. One especially winning chapter deals with how the rising network society can promote justice and development in third world areas that are not currently connected and may never be. The corporate and political insistence on regulating the information infrastructure and criminalizing user behaviors may represent a losing battle against the basic human drive to network and create, as can be seen in trends like open source software and community wi-fi. Benkler's main point here (when you're finally able to uncover it) is that humanity may be on the brink of a major change in the way we process culture and information, thanks to the growth in open worldwide networks. The old school power players won't go without a fight, adding unnecessary strife to the process, but Benkler has faith in humanity's ability to transform and rise above [~doomsdayer520~]
Excellent and Insightful Articulation.......2007-01-11
I highly recommend reading Yochai Benkler's book.
It is a balanced articulation of what the Internet and Web 2.0 are enabling in the development of new forms of social collaboration that are not adequately recognized as such by both private/regulated market advocates and welfare advocates. One of the things that struck me most is Benkler's capacity to create a perspective in which he can show that these new forms of collectives are rooted in old practices that have existed forever.
He also shows that these practices can gain major significance if:
1. The neutrality of the web, access to the web, Open Source initiatives, and the General Public Licensing type of legislation are improved,
2. The aggressive move toward Intellectual Property laws and regulations, and control by corporations, is counter-balanced.
Excellent read!
Average customer rating:
- Media Impact
- good solid media book
- boring
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Media/Impact: An Introduction to Mass Media (with InfoTrac and CD-ROM)
Shirley Biagi
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ASIN: 0534597068 |
Book Description
Consistently praised for its engaging writing style, currency, and visual appeal, this revised text introduces students to the basic mass media channels, such as newspapers, magazines, electronic media and the Internet. It includes a focused examination of the history, ethics, cultural and social implications, regulation and technology that surrounds and controls the media. The new edition will engage and excite students even more with the addition of an interactive CD-ROM. Biagi fully immerses students within the media as they learn about the media.
Customer Reviews:
Media Impact.......2005-10-20
The book was here in 5 days and every one in the class including the teacher can't believe the price I got for it. Worked out just great and the teacher is going to buy the book from me.
good solid media book.......2000-01-24
This is a good media textbook. Shirley Biagi does a nice job of updating this text regularly. Students will find it interesting and informative. Lots of photos and sidebars add to the information. Covers all the media as well as social isues, ethics, global conglomerates and more.
boring.......1999-12-12
I swear, this book is the worst book ever for Mass Communications because it's just a bunch of articles about what might be the case of mass media in the future. If i didn't need the book for a college course, I would never have bought it
Average customer rating:
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Bioterrorism: Psychological and Public Health Interventions
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
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Binding: Hardcover
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Terrorism and Disaster: Individual and Community Mental Health Interventions
ASIN: 0521814723 |
Book Description
In addition to planning and pre-disaster exercises essential for allocating resources and devising effective mental health interventions, this book also includes two CDs showing an international panel of experts discussing how best to plan for a bioterrorist event. Although only twelve people died after the sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system in 1995, more than five thousand sought medical care for the effects of possible exposure. Bioterrorism can create chaos and disruption on a national and international scale. Moreover, it is believed to incur the most devastating psychological sequelae of all disasters.
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