Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #27047 in Books
• Published on: 2007-10-23
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 528 pages

From Publishers Weekly
In this thick academic book, Yale law professor Benkler offers a comprehensive catalog of flashpoints in the conflict between old and new information creators. In Benkler's view, the new "networked information economy" allows individuals and groups to be more productive than profit-seeking ventures. New types of collaboration, such as Wikipedia or SETI@Home, "offer defined improvements in autonomy, democratic discourse, cultural creation, and justice"-as long as government regulation aimed at protecting old-school information monoliths (such as the Digital Millennium Copyright Act) doesn't succeed. Non-market innovation is a good thing in itself and doesn't even have to threaten entrenched interests, Benkler argues; rather, "social production" can use resources that the industrial information economy leaves behind. Where Benkler excels is in bringing together disparate strands of the new information economy, from the democratization of the newsmedia via blogs to the online effort publicizing weaknesses in Diebold voting machines. Though Benkler doesn't really present any new ideas here, and sometimes draws simplistic distinctions, his defense of the Internet's power to enrich people's lives is often stirring.
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Review
"'An ambitious attempt to understand how the internet is changing society... The book draws on a staggering array of disciplines: from graph theory to economics, law to political science. But Benkler's breadth is not at the expense of depth. He never falls for easy, superficial conclusions. His writing is clear and readable... This is an important book." Paul Miller, Financial Times Magazine 'New networks offer a glimpse of the new polity and the ancient regime is struggling to prevent its birth. The Wealth of Networks is a reveille for netizens... Few are unaware that this sector is undergoing transformation, and Benkler's identification of major forces at work is important and enlightening.' Paul Duguid, Times Literary Supplement 'That the internet is changing society is understood. Less appreciated is how society is changing the internet. In this respect, Benkler's work masterfully explains the political and economic forces at play, their promises and their threats. Ultimately, his contribution is to shift our view of the network from the individual to the ad-hoc group. For this, his book is of lasting significance.' New Statesman"

Review
"A lucid, powerful, and optimistic account of a revolution in the making."-Siva Vaidhyanathan, author of The Anarchist in the Library (Siva Vaidhyanathan )

"A magnificent achievement. Yochai Benkler shows us how the Internet enables new commons-based methods for producing goods, remaking culture, and participating in public life. The Wealth of Networks is an indispensable guide to the political economy of our digitally networked world."-Jack M. Balkin, Professor of Law and Director of the Information Society Project, Yale University (Jack M. Balkin )

"At last a book that confronts the politics and economics of the Internet in a fundamental way, moving beyond the surface of policy debate to reveal the basic structure of the challenges we confront."-Bruce Ackerman, Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science, Yale University (Bruce Ackerman )

"This deeply researched book documents the fundamental changes in the ways in which we produce and share ideas, information, and entertainment. Then, drawing widely on the literatures of philosophy, economics, and political theory, it shows why these changes should be welcomed, not resisted. The trends examined, if allowed to continue, will radically alter our lives-and no other scholar describes them so clearly or champions them more effectively than Benkler."-William W. Fisher III, Hale and Dorr Professor of Intellectual Property Law, Harvard University, Director, Berkman Center for Internet and Society (William W. Fisher III )

"In this book, Benkler establishes himself as the leading intellectual of the information age. Profoundly rich in its insight and truth, this work will be the central text for understanding how networks have changed how we understand the world. No work to date has more carefully or convincingly made the case for a fundamental change in how we understand the economy of society."-Lawrence Lessig, Professor of Law, Stanford Law School (Lawrence Lessig )

Customer Reviews

The Wealth of Networks: Worth the read, despite shortcomings
"How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom" is an apt subheading for "The Wealth of Networks" by Yochai Benkler. The book encompasses topics as broad as the name suggests.

The five-hundred page book provides a sweeping take on networks, covering nearly everything from the history of radio to the future of information law and policy. The dense Introduction may take readers several days to wade through, but offers the core messages of the book, compacted into twenty-eight pages. After breaking further into the book, the weight is lifted as the author's ideas are presented more freely, with space dedicated to supplementary explanations and examples.

The Wealth of Networks is a book worth reading and provides a respectable overview of many topics, with an array of perspectives to consider. Benkler presents his viewpoints nicely. A few points of contention for the reader can be seen in occasionally repetitious or presumptuous statements that break the flow of reading. In addition, the stand-alone style of each chapter is suggestive of a lesson plan for teachers.

To his credit, Benkler does well to ensure that his stance on each issue is quite clear; it is evident that he is a liberal proponent of freedoms and rights: "Freedom--the freedom to speak, but also to be free from manipulation and to be cognizant of many and diverse options--inheres in this (networked environment) radically greater diversity of information, knowledge, and culture through which to understand the world and imagine how one could be" (p. 168). "The increasing feasibility of nonmarket, nonproprietary production of information, knowledge, and culture, and of communications and computation capacity holds the promise of increasing the degree of autonomy for individuals in the networked information economy" (p. 174).

Despite pushing the agenda of his own political lens, Benkler does a fair job of offering both sides of his arguments. He does not just force his ideas on his reader, but rather gives an analysis of opposing views in order to prove why he believes his points ought to prevail. For example, on page 233, Benkler clearly outlines the five basic critiques about the Internet as a tool for democratization, and proceeds on page 237 with: "The remainder of this chapter is devoted to responding to these critiques, providing a defense of the claim that the Internet can contribute to a more attractive liberal public sphere." On page 271 he responds with a diplomatic answer to the critiques: "The first generation of statements that the Internet democratizes was correct but imprecise." He continues with: "The network allows all citizens to change their relationship to the public sphere. They no longer need be consumers and passive spectators. They can become creators and primary subjects. It is in this sense that the Internet democratizes."(p. 272).

With ideas repeated throughout the book, each chapter could stand alone - a benefit to an instructor looking to teach just one portion of the book. However, from a leisure reader's perspective, such redundancies can interrupt the flow of reading. For example, Chapter 6, page 199, states "The Sinclair Broadcast Group is one of the largest owners of television broadcast stations in the United States" and Chapter 7, page 220, states "Sinclair, which owns major television stations..." Such repetitions may cause readers to feel disoriented and pause to determine if they are accidentally re-reading a chapter, because the ideas were recently addressed and are still top-of-mind. This repetitive manner makes the chapters ideal for teachers who may want to teach just one section; otherwise, the repetition disrupts the flow of the book.

Another disruption to the flow of reading is Benkler's occasional use of broad or all-assuming statements. Despite his qualitative examples, Benkler sometimes uses statements that seem unfounded, or too general to be stated in the factual manner he uses. Benkler's "universals" may cause a reader to pause in order to consider the validity of such statements, and question what research or qualifications led Benkler to make such assertions. The following three sentences offer examples.

First: "The rise of global information economic structures and relationships affect human beings everywhere" (p. 19). Second: "This causes the person offered the money either to believe the offerer, and thereby lose self-esteem and reduce effort, or to resent him and resist the offer" (p. 94). Third: "The practice of producing culture makes us all more sophisticated readers, viewers, and listeners, as well as more engaged makers" (p. 275).

These definitive statements about "human beings everywhere," the instigators of personal resentment and self-esteem, and conditions that "make us all more sophisticated" are presumptuous and unsupported. The accumulation of such unfounded "facts" may cause readers to pause, thereby breaking the flow of reading.

In conclusion, despite the foregoing shortcomings of some statements and structure, The Wealth of Networks is a work worth reading. Benkler offers insights into a broad range of topics and makes his points by presenting opposing views, thus providing readers with both sides of the issue at hand. I would recommend this book, but forewarn readers that it can be a lengthy read at times.

This book gave meaning to law school
This work was assigned in my last semester of law school. For the most part, I (like many others) did not see the worth in law school other than to become a good lawyer and make money. After reading this book, I feel all of the previous courses that I took in law school (mainly the IP ones) have more value.

I would recommend this work to anyone wanting to see how copyright and patent laws effect/interact with society and culture beyond the "incentive theory" that is the primary focus of most copyright and patent law courses.

Illustrates potential of networks
A great book, even though it took Amazon nearly a month to send me the book.

An optimistic look at the ways online networks can better our society by strengthening democracy and creating more equality. A little dry in places, but an excellent resource for understanding how the Internet fits into the global economy.