Overall I don't really care for this book. Not that I disagree with the basic premise of the book which is that the developing WWW is offering all sorts of new ways for learners all over the world to access learning of virtually any content, anywhere, any time. There is no doubt that this is true and I believe in and use many of the specific tools that are discussed. For me personally, I don't care much for the breathless story-telling model of discussing how new technologies are impacting us. The stories get old quickly, and there is not really any usable and structured information that can be leveraged to actually exploit all of this new technology in a meaningful way for my own pursuit of unifying and simplifying the learning process.

The book also over-emphasizes the impact of having open information available on the internet. We have had open information for virtually anyone for years via books in the library. That doesn't mean that everyone can become an expert on every topic by reading the books in the library. The MIT project with all of the coursework available to anyone in the world who wants to look at it doesn't generate a world full of people with the knowledge of MIT graduates. Unfortunately, learning just doesn't work that way. If only it were so easy! What we really need to focus on is the development of the technology such that it can supplement or if possibly replace traditional methods of teaching and learning, which have been developed and improved for many many years. Everyone is excited about using technology in this way, but much of the technology that is discussed in this book has actually been available for a number of years now and the impact doesn't seem to be all that great. Once again we are confronted with the idea that incorporating technology/multimedia into learning may not directly cause an impact in the effectiveness of that learning, a concept that has been researched and published upon extensively.