Member Reviews

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  • Rated 1 stars

  “This is one of the worst books I have ever read.”

  andrew w wrote this review 3 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink )
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  • Rated 3 stars

  “Despite some of the over-the-top fantastic dystopian images Keen induces in his arguments (which are not as sophisticated as hoped) adding to the confusion of his central thesis, his is a compelling read.
  I would recommend it for a lazy saturday, easy read one can breeze through this and be well entertained, made a little more aware (there are no lack of gems in this one) and made all the more convinced that no medium of information should be taken as gospel truth, this piece included.”

  hani wrote this review 3 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink )
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  • Rated 4 stars

  “This was readable, entertaining and well-researched. As a teacher librarian I have to admit that I indulge in the digital narcissism of blogs, the amateur cult of wikis but I also combat the intellectual kleptomania of the wicked wikipedia.
  
  I think every librarian should read this but maybe I was out in the dark too much and all my fellow TL know all of this”

  Elaine F wrote this review Thursday, July 3 2008. ( reply | permalink )
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  • Rated 4 stars

  “Keen's argument is not always consistent, but it is always thought-provoking. I agree with some of the other comments here, that he seems to put too much faith in the mainstream mass media. Still, I think there is a lot to his central theme: that in an age where everybody is self-publishing and self-marketing, true talent in all fields is being buried under an avalanche of mediocrity. This book focuses mainly on the internet, but I'd like to see a larger examination of this idea as it relates to the non-electronic world as well. After all, we have karaoke bars replacing rehearsed musical performances, and reality shows replacing scripted & crafted TV shows. (Keen only touches on this briefly.) Somewhere, Andy Warhol is laughing and saying, "See? I told you so!"”

  Aladdin wrote this review Tuesday, April 15 2008. ( reply | permalink )
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  • Rated 0 stars

  “thought provoking”

  graham r wrote this review Thursday, April 3 2008. ( reply | permalink )
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  • Rated 3 stars

  “Though I agree there is a problem, and I think some of his suggestions for solutions are on target, I disagree with his fealty to the establishment, and think he has most of his arguments backwards. The internet isn't "stealing" people from traditional media; traditional media outlets have failed to deliver the product the consumers want.”

  kadair wrote this review Tuesday, March 25 2008. ( reply | permalink )
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  • Rated 2 stars

  “In the spirit of reading contrarian views, I picked this book up and read it in under a day. It was so offensively ignorant that I barely made it through. However, when I read about it online (to see if anyone shared my opinion) I came upon Lawrence Lessig's blog, which called the book brilliant. Hmmm, I have read several Lessig books, and think he is brilliant - so what gives? It turns out that he thinks Keen's book is self-parody, which would make it pure genius. Check out Lessig's review here: http://lessig.org/blog/2007/05/keens_the_cult_of_the_amateur.html. Truly, a classic move by Keen if that really was his intention.....”

  Beckmania wrote this review Sunday, February 24 2008. ( reply | permalink )
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  • Rated 4 stars

  “A book that get you more cuestions than answers about the digital culture.”

  Alberto wrote this review Saturday, December 8 2007. ( reply | permalink )
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  • Rated 4 stars

  “The Internet of the 21st century, also called Web 2.0, has become a participatory marvel, letting anyone post anything, anywhere, without having to go through, or be approved by, anyone. According to this book, that is also its biggest drawback, not just for the Internet, but for all of American culture. The two biggest culprits in the destruction of American culture are the sites Wikipedia and YouTube. Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia that anyone can edit at any time. It doesn’t matter if the person doesn’t know anything about the subject of the entry they are changing. It also doesn’t matter if the edited information is totally wrong, or downright malicious. No approval is required. The legitimate encyclopedias are suffering greatly; people would rather use Wikipedia with its potentially wrong information. YouTube is the video equivalent of Wikipedia. Again, anyone can post anything, with no thought given as to whether or not the video is accurate or fair. The author explores the near-destruction of the music business by file sharing and downloading; the movie business is not far behind in terms of Internet-caused damage. The site craigslist has done major damage to newspaper ad revenue, a major source of money. Newspaper readership is steadily dropping, as people go to blogs for news, leading to the possibility of journalism becoming totally advertiser-driven, which would mean covering little more than celebrities, diets and self-help. Anything can be cut, pasted and re-mixed, putting great pressure on concepts of copyright and ownership. A major assertion of the author is that there are no “gate-keepers” on the Internet, no one to help the average person discover what information is, or is not, accurate. There is hope on the horizon. In 2006, one of the creators of Wikipedia started Citizendium, a wiki encyclopedia but with experts who have the authority as the final word in their area of specialty. Legislation has been passed to protect kids from predators on sites like MySpace, but parents have the primary responsibility to know what their kids are doing online. Lest anyone think otherwise, this is not some back-to-nature, anti-technology rant; the author is a Silicon Valley insider. This book is worth reading and recommended for everyone, from those who live on the Internet, to those who want nothing to do with it. ”

  plappen wrote this review Monday, November 19 2007. ( reply | permalink )