Small Pieces Loosely Joined: A Unified Theory of the Web
Author: David Weinberger
List Price: $25.00
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ISBN: 0738205435
Publisher: Perseus Publishing (26 March, 2002)
Sales Rank: 70,154
Average Customer Rating: 3.95 out of 5
Customer Reviews
Rating: 4 out of 5
Insightful look at what the web has taught us
The reason that I chose to read this in the first place was that I was seeing it listed in sidebar after weblog sidebar, so it seemed like the "in" book to be reading right now. I quickly discovered that there is good reason for all the buzz. This book will probably be solely remembered for its spin on the Warhol quote that "on the Internet, everyone will be famous to 15 people" (loose paraphrase), and that's a shame, because it's so much more than that. Weinberger asserts that the advent of the Web has forced us to take a hard look at our assumptions about things like space, time, relationships, and what really matters to us. The Web, rather than something that is inherently good or bad, is a fairly accurate reflection of who we are as a society. Weinberger's style is both enlightening and disarming. I would highly recommend this to anyone who wants to learn more about where we've come since the Web's introduction, and (perhaps) where we're going.
Rating: 3 out of 5
If ya gotta ask, you'll never know...
In reading David Weinberger's "Small Pieces Loosely Joined", his thesis of how the Web works and impacts our lives, I couldn't help but recall Louis Armstrong's legendary response to the question "What is jazz". "Man, if ya gotta ask," he supposedly replied, "you'll never know.""Small Pieces" tries to ask just that question: What is the Web? Not to say that Weinberger doesn't know (he does), but in trying to formulate an answer with "Small Pieces", he offers few new insights. There's nothing in this book that will hit the reader like a ton of bricks, especially if he or she has any degree of Web experience.
Indeed, while well-written and informative, the bulk of the content is a rehash of earlier Internet thinkers like Clifford Stoll, Nicholas Negroponte, Eric Raymond, Howard Rhiengold and even Jeremy Rifkin. Old-school netizens will be particularly disappointed, especially since the tone of the book comes disturbingly close to the technlogy-will-change-everything breathelessness of the dotcom days.
"Small Pieces", however, has its merits -- particularly in Weinberger's writing style. In that vein, "Small Pieces" makes a good beach book... and it's also good for those new to the Web (or at least those who are critically thinking about it for the first time). But if you really want to learn what the Web's all about, get surfing and build your own website. Like learning how to ride a bike, the only way to learn the Web is by hopping on the seat and risking a few skinned knees.
Rating: 2 out of 5
Didn't tell me anything I didn't already know
A confusing little book - from all the hype you'd think there was some earth-shattering discovery enclosed therein.But this was just a collection of little essays about the web, the contents of which would be so plainly obvious to every 12 year-old I know. Yet for an over-40 who'd never used the Web, they wouldn't understand it either. So who is the target audience?
It doesn't even merit being considered as "WWW Futures 101". Very disappointing.
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