146. Title & Author: The Big Switch: Rewiring the World, from Edison to Google by Nicholas Carr (233 pages)Genre: Nonfiction--History & Technology
Completed: 2 June 2010
Summary & Review:
Just as Edison changed the face of the country with his readily available electricity, the creators and pioneers of the internet are shaping, and reshaping, the future of commerce, culture, and community. Nicholas Carr explores the history of electricity and the future of computing as he compares and contrasts how the two technologies have affected our lives.
I found the passages about the history of electricity to be pretty interesting, but the rest of the book about computers, and more specifically the internet, wasn't a cohesive argument or thesis. At times Carr seemed to be presenting a "what's next in the business world" kind of book, attempting to prepare and inform the reader of technological advances that could help his business. Other times, he was waxing poetic on the amazing things computers will be able to do just around the corner. Still, in other chapters his focus was almost philosophical as he ranted about the loss of privacy and the potential for economic collapse, just two among many dangers of the world wide computing grid. Many facts and insights were very eye-opening, but on the whole I wish Carr had stuck to one of his theses and focused on convincing the reader about that.
Rating: 6.0
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