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April 14, 2003

Small Pieces reviewed

Small Pieces Loosely Joined gets reviewed as part of CIO Insight's "Reading Library" (as opposed to the Library of Books Carefully Left Casually Lying Around to Impress Subordinates?):

The foremost problem with books about technology is that they are deadly dull. Not this one; Weinberger, a coauthor of the overhyped Cluetrain Manifesto, provides an entertaining interpretation of the true effect of the Web. His conclusion: We haven't even begun to understand how it has changed just about everything and everyone's lives. In his view, the Internet represents democracy in its truest form. This just reinforces something CIOs already know when it comes to business: The more choices people have, the harder you have to work to keep those people as customers.

Can't complain, although I wouldn't have said that the conclusion is that Internet represents democracy. Maybe something about the Web being so popular because it more truly reflects our connective human nature than our modern beliefs do. But if I could have said in a phrase what the conclusion is, maybe the book would have sold better.

PS: It'll be out in paperback soon. But don't let that stop you from buying the hardback if only because its cover is so much prettier than the new design. Not to mention that — as is typical — my hardback royalties are 15% of the cover price while I only get 7% of the cover price of the paperback. For those who are keeping track, this means that each of the authors of the overhyped Cluetrain book makes about $0.11 for every paperback copy sold. Damn coauthors!

Posted by D. Weinberger at April 14, 2003 08:18 AM

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Right about now, Trevor is leading Seabury students through David Weinberger’s Small Pieces Loosely Joined, so that someone so inclined can read a number of reports on what they think about the book. This passed the threshold of blogging because ... [Read More]

Tracked on April 15, 2003 08:30 AM

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