Group Non-Fiction Read - The Internet is Not The Answer - Mar & Apr 2017- SPOILERS ALLOWED

[Paul]

The discussion thread is now open. Spoilers are allowed on this thread. Don't read on if you haven't finished the book. Can you also unclick the 'Add to my update feed' people don't see your comments in their home screen. Things to consider:

1. Did you like the book?
2. Do you think that the author covers the subject adequately?
3. Do you like the tone and language of the book?
4. Was there any part of the book that was important or significant to you?
5. Have you learnt anything from the book?
6. Has reading this encouraged you to look for other books on the subject?

[Pamela]

Quite interesting book. I felt the author concentrated primarily on economic aspects of the Internet, and covered these convincingly, but didn't say as much about security, privacy and harassment. He mentioned them, but I felt he could have said a lot more. It was also very US focused as he concentrated on companies like Facebook, Google etc - he could have said more about the global impact.

The style was readable, although there were a lot of figures in dollars to back up the economic arguments, and I didn't take them all in. I would like to read more on this subject, probably focussing on cultural or social angles to fill in some of the gaps.

[Patricia]

As a total non-tech person, I found this book to be fairly enlightening. Sure made me leery of getting on the internet at all (and yet, here I am).
I was basically starting with a blank slate so everything was interesting to me. It's discouraging that the initial intent of the internet was distorted so that a small handful of people are getting filthy rich on the backs of the rest of us!
I agree with Pamela about wanting to read more about the social aspects. I teach high school so I see the effect all this technology has on teens--most of it negative!

[Paul]

Finally got around to reading this, apologies folks.

Keen makes some good points and I think that he is spot on with his analysis of the current state of the net, and the vested interests who are seeing you as a product ripe for taking money from. The situation in San Francisco is quite shocking. Where is was missing was the dark underbelly of the net, those that are seeking to defraud, steal and countries who will use it to shut down the infrastructure of other countries. That is quite terrifying. My review is here:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...