Reviews (21)

A way to understand howspreading words works
As social science proffesional involved in the marketing field, I am continually dared -if not demanded- to explore entrepeneurial iniciatives to get on the edge of the competition and reach smarter and demanding customers to seed an idea and make it roll over the world, it is sure that task is not easy, and many of times even good ideas not suceed, why?
Excellent source of knowledge for innovation management
I have been using this book for years in research and teaching at the university level. There are other fine books that concern innovation diffusion and adoption but Roger's book is THE reference. Many of my students in information systems struggling to find a theory to study information systems have "adopted" parts of this book, especially the five factors that determine adoption, e.g., relative advantage, complexity and compatibility. A more tricky area is to categorise potential and actual adopters,e.g., who wants to be a laggard? I also like the discussion on "pro-innovation bias",i.e., that innovation is sometimes seen as a law-like process wich is not always the case. Some big companies' alleged "innovations" are not really needed by the users. This book should be valuable to all that are interested in change processes in social systems.

Excellent book
This is a trully magnificent and wonderfully-written book. It offers a thorough introduction to diffusion research and it is packed with a ton of illustrative applications that make the content seem relevant and not abstract to the reader. A must for anyone interested in diffusion of innovations (either technological or of political nature). Cant praise it enough. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Advertising & Promotion    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Diffusion of innovations    4. General    5. History    6. Marketing - General    7. Social Change    8. Social Science    9. Sociology    10. Sociology - Rural    11. Study and teaching    12. Impact of science & technology on society    13. Industrial applications of scientific research & technological innovation    14. Popular science    15. Social Science / General   

Reviews (83)

Take care of yourself - immortality is near!

Caution, Maestro at Work
Ray Kurzweil is utterly relentless, merciless, and authoritative as he hammers home his vision of the future.He doesn't just make this stuff up, but opens his book with about fifty graphs depicting the exponential trends in current technology.Graphs depict the increase in computer power, its reduction in cost, the nanotechnological patents applied for, the size of chips, and so on. Dr. Kurzweil doesn't so much indicate trends, as prove that they are inevitable.
Theoretical Science Masterpiece
Kurzwell's vision isn't perfect.But part of the point of this book is that no one single person will comprise the evolutionary singularity, it will take every single part of humanity to plug into our world for that to happen.He's doing a relatively noble thing, standing on the edge of reality, and sending out a jolting vision of the future that is one of a kind.There's no need to worship Kurzwell, it's simply that people ought to pay attention to this theoretical science masterpiece and heed it's alarming beautiful call to arms against pessimism and backward oriented thought.Awesome. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biotechnology    2. Brain    3. Evolution    4. Genetics    5. Human Evolution    6. Life Sciences - Biology - General    7. Nanotechnology    8. Philosophy & Social Aspects    9. Science    10. Science/Mathematics    11. Social Aspects    12. Technology And Social Change    13. Technology / Robotics   

Editorial Review

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Reviews (12)

A Polymath Desperately in Need of Focus
Given Castells' huge range of understanding and the sheer ambition of his work, it seems a bit unfair to really criticize this book. Few writers would try to tackle the huge ideas that Castells covers here - vast theories about the state and direction of humanity in relation to the rising information society. On the other hand, theory-of-everything books like this, as frequently attempted by polymaths such as Fritjof Capra, have their own unavoidable problems which deserve to be criticized. When a theorist tries to combine knowledge of everything into a huge integrated and unified theory, the writing becomes monstrously diffuse and unfocused. That is the exact problem with this book. The Rise of Network Society
The Rise of Network Society brings up many important issues regarding globalization and what Manuel Castells calls the network society. He argues that the technological revolution that began in the late 70s in Silicon Valley has had a profound impact on all aspects of society. The changes, he argues are most apparent in the new relationships between the economy, state and society that have been formed. He suggests that an increase in the flexibility of management, a decentralization of production and an increased reliance on networking has caused many of the immediate changes taking place. Castells suggests that it is through the decline in the labor movement and the devaluing of the laborers that capital has become an increasingly powerful network. This, he suggests has caused networks such as labor, criminal or mafia groups, and financial markets to be realized on a global rather than local scale. By looking at how new relationships and identities are being conceived of in what he calls the informational age, Castells is able to theorize about the ways in which technology and information have will continue to transform society.
Is information technology the culprit?
Many of the observations Prof. Catells made are valid, however the connection between information technology and the social problems are not very strong. The network states, global criminal society, wealth disparity, etc. are more or less the byproduct of globalization. Read more

Subjects:  1. Economic aspects    2. Economics - General    3. Information Technology    4. Information networks    5. Information society    6. Internet - General    7. Media Studies    8. Reference    9. Social Science    10. Social aspects    11. Sociology    12. Sociology - General    13. Technology And Social Change    14. Computers / Information Technology    15. Impact of computing & IT on society    16. Impact of science & technology on society    17. TECHNOLOGY AND CIVILIZATION   

Reviews (3)

A Laudable Extension of McLuhan:Cool, Seminal & Involving!
Powers says that this book is not about "final answers."By God he's right!And he proceeds to effloresce a wondrous garden wrought of the print medium brimming over with fresh probes, "osmic space," brains "astonied," the secret lives of "sense ratios," and other electrific, outsized insights and invitations into the futurepresent.One could readily argue and effectively so that "The Global Village..." is indeed a worthy extension of the medium of Professor McLuhan himself, ringing true and resonating orchestrally with the spirit and vivacity of that bright, iridescent, warm and radiant bulb which, tragically, went out suddenly and left us in darkness on New Year's Eve, 1980. a shameful posthumous misrepresentation of McL.'s thought.
I'm surprised this travesty is still in print."Not in McLuhan's style" is a kind understatement; Powers demonstrates flagrant misunderstanding and confusion of basic McLuhanesque ideas.Try 'Laws ofMedia' or 'Understanding Electric Language' instead.

FIGURING OUT THE GROUND
This book is for the McLuhan enthusiast who would like to figure out theground on which McLuhan stands. It is chock full of McLuhan's ideas, butnot presented in McLuhan's typical style. Published 9 years after McLuhan'sdeath, it seems likely that co-author Bruce Powers assembled the materialfor publication.Read more

Subjects:  1. Business/Economics    2. General    3. Genetics    4. Mass media    5. Media Studies - Electronic Media    6. Medical    7. Social aspects    8. Sociology    9. Technological innovations    10. Technology    11. Technology And Social Change    12. Communication    13. Cultural studies    14. Media studies    15. Social Science / Media Studies   

Editorial Review

As the founder of MIT's Media Lab and a popular columnist for Read more

Reviews (80)

Good bread, but nothing in between
I read this book, partly based on the implied challenge of one of my professors.After finishing it, I can only say I'm glad I didn't pay full price for it.
Being Digital in Digital Planet
IMAGINE that in a bright morning you read a digital newspaper which was specially "printed" for you. Supported by a telepresence tool, your digital form can be present at some places at the same time -- without getting effort at all from your house. Mostly of your job will take over by smart-digital-interface tools. You are living in digital life.
Negroponte agrees...
"And so? I know: Extrapolating bandwidth, processor speed, network dimensions, or the shrinking size of electromechanical devices has become truly tiresome. Moore's Law, first expounded by Gordon Moore in 1965, is indeed a stroke of brilliance, but one more mention of it should make you puke. Terabit access, petahertz processors, planetary networks, and disk drives on the heads of pins will be ... they'll just be. Face it - the Digital Revolution is over." -- Nicholas Negroponte, 12/98
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Subjects:  1. Computer networks    2. Digital Communication Engineering    3. Digital communications    4. Engineering - Electrical & Electronic    5. Information Technology    6. Interactive multimedia    7. Popular Culture - General    8. Science/Mathematics    9. Social aspects    10. Sociology    11. Sociology - General    12. Technology    13. Technology And Social Change    14. Technology and civilization    15. Telecommunications    16. Technology / Telecommunications   

Reviews (20)

Future-Trans-Post-Super-Humanity
This book has a lot of meat for those futureheads who are hungry for knowledge about the possibilities for wired cyborg posthumans and transhumans of the ultra future, but for the general interested reader there is little to really chew on. Joel Garreau has compiled some impressive research into cutting edge technologies that will either improve or disrupt the lives of humans (depending on one's point of view), and emerging theories into how human nature will adapt or collapse in the face of superadvanced technology. Especially prevalent here is coverage ofthe most futuristic trends in computing and genetic engineering, which may and will seriously impact what it means to be "human." This is all good brain candy, but Jarreau's philosophical goals in the book never really come together, and his writing style mostly consists of rapid-fire examples with little flow or continuity, the hyping of isolated incidents and inventions as trends, and vast generalizations about human nature. That makes this attempt at deep philosophy feel more like a shallow stream of disconnected ideas.
A poor take on a fascinating subject
Washington Post reporter and editor Joel Garreau's Radical Evolution could have been a good introduction to the debate over the future of humanity once the inevitable technological and knowledge explosion known by its prophets as the Singularity occurs. Instead, it's an unconsciously one-sided view of the near and middle future that ignores the more intriguing aspects of the debate.
Wow, this is interesting!
The Matrix may be a long way from now, but there are some prophets of the technological era, such as Ray Kurzweil, who argue that the singularity - the point where humans and machines come together - is not far away. How do we view such developments? That's exactly what this book is about!
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Subjects:  1. Ethics & Moral Philosophy    2. General    3. Life Sciences - Evolution - Human    4. Philosophy    5. Philosophy & Social Aspects    6. Science    7. Science/Mathematics    8. Social Aspects    9. Technology    10. Technology And Social Change    11. Science / General   

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Reviews (35)

Back to the Future
This book is a blend of intresting observations and speculation on various hot technologies (gnemoics in particular) and it's likely impact on people and countries. It is an intresting book and can be easily followed by anybody (even without any intrest or knowledge of the subject).The page layout (with large typeface and fonts) may seem condescending to some of the serious readers, but i think it works in this case, since the book isn't verbose and the author packsthought and info in small sentences, which provokes one to pause and reflect. For eg: sample this: "there used to be one way of getting pregnant.. Now there are more than Seventeen" OR " A seed is an instruument designed to execute a genetic program that transforms soil, water and sun into Wood, Flower.. Fruit"
Exporting Brains
The presentation is unique, the content loops around on itself, and the wide range of font styles and sizes occasionally distract, but there is probably no better way to look at the future than Enriquez's unapologetic, head-on style. The future is not making any excuses for itself: it is roaring into town and anyone (be it individual, group, company, or nation) who fails to accept that fact is going to find themselves marginalized, irrelevant, and poor.Enriquez narrows the future down to two fundamental principles: information systems and genomics.Whoever masters these two concepts will be able to handle the future just fine; whoever ignores these will be left behind, without pity.
I am 3 / 10,000ths of 1% different from you !
This book is about life science called Genomics. It combines information technology and genetics.It is becoming the focus and fulcrum of our future culture and economy as a convergence of the digital revolution, genetics and the knowledge economy.Other sprouting life sciences are biotechnology and nanotechnology.
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Subjects:  1. 21st century    2. Civilization    3. Civilization, Modern    4. Genomics    5. History    6. History: American    7. Life Sciences - Genetics & Genomics    8. Philosophy & Social Aspects    9. Science    10. Social Aspects    11. Technology    12. Technology And Social Change    13. Current Events / General    14. Sociology, Social Studies   

Editorial Review

Manuel Castells concludes the Information Age trilogy by considering the intersection of the global network society and factional project identities. As always, the scope of Castell's argument is far-ranging. Among the subjects addressed are the collapse of the Soviet Union; the potential emergence of the Asian Pacific as the next region of major world power; and the rapidly increasing growth of a "Fourth World"-- a series of "black holes of informational capitalism" (areas that have been cut off from the flow of wealth and information in the global economy) that refuses to confine itself to national borders--as likely to appear in the American inner city as it is in sub-Saharan Africa. He also raises the specter of a "global criminal economy," a dark counterpart to transnational corporations, and suggests that trends such as fascination with gangster movies "may well indicate the cultural breakdown of traditional moral order, and the implicit recognition of a new society, made up of communal identity and unruly competition."Read more

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Reviews (5)

Sent an old edition
I was sent the first edition of this book even though a second is already out and has been for years.Not disclosed that this was older edition.

Is information technology the culprit?
Many of the observations Prof. Catells made are valid, however the connection between information technology and the social problems are not very strong. The network states, global criminal society, wealth disparity, etc. are more or less the byproduct of globalization. Yes, information technology accelerates the rate of globalization. But would those social problems exist without information technology? Mostly likely yes. These phenomena are not new, they predate the advent of the Information Age (the World Wide Web and mass adoption of internet is a post-1990 phenomenon). Multinatioal organizations (or globalization) have been around for many decades, same goes for the North-South polical economic paradigm. So, attributing all these social problems to the Information Age (at least that is the impression I got out of it) may not be an accurate representation. Nonetheless, his trilogy does demonstrate the acute problem of a global digital divide, and he suggested some possible solutions in some of his other books.

don't read it if you can help it
This is a horrible book and very hard to read.The author writes with long sentences that use big words throughout, that are not necessary in understanding his concepts.This book could have been written in half the words and you would have actually been able to comprehend it.VCR manuals read better than this book. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 1970-    2. 1990-    3. Anthropology - Cultural    4. Economic Conditions    5. Economic history    6. General    7. Internet - General    8. Social History    9. Social Science    10. Sociology    11. Sociology - General    12. Technology And Social Change    13. Technology and civilization    14. Business & Economics / Economic History    15. ECONOMIC HISTORY_1990-    16. Globalization    17. INFORMATION SOCIETY    18. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY    19. Impact of science & technology on society    20. Social theory   

Editorial Review

Harvard Business School professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter is the Eartha Kitt of change-management gurus. Just when you think the grand dame has taken her final bow, she comes bounding back onto the scene with a new act that's as shrewd and insightful as anything any young kitten has to offer--but benefiting from decades of wisdom and experience that puts the whole litter to shame. Take, for instance, Read more

Reviews (40)

New Economy Lobotomy & more....
Author Kanter is the Ernest L. Arbuckle Professor of Business Administration at Harvard (or was when she wrote the book), She has been named as on eof the 50 most powerful women in the world by the TIMES of London. Based on more than 300 inteviews and a global survey of more than 700 companies, the book Evolve! is a study in e-culture, strategy and community. Written back in 2001 -- the book still deserves to be on the shelf of every business exec or entrepreneur in this continually evolving new economy (and at the bargain price it's available on Amazon.com -- add it to your collection now). Kanter talks about talent, change (not just cosmetic) and social evolution...community takes a big role. Perhaps the one element she could have covered better is content-- since so much of what we see today is user generated content and content that is 2-way interactive. Commerce is not a one way street anymore....still the book covers many basics I'm sure you did not learn in B School and it gives insight and strategy into the why's and e-culture and how the Internet fits into the corporate structure of today and tomrorow...or perhaps how it is shaping it....The index is very good and can be used as a reference for making presentations at work or in developing your next-gen digital commerce start-up!

Still relevant for e-business managers in traditional firms
This book is to some extent out-of-date. It is written in the dot-com era. And there is indeed a lot of hype on the young start-ups' heroic characteristics such as speed, flexibility, and courage that traditional large companies couldn't compete with in the short run. Today, we all know that these characteristics didn't stand the test of time in a ruthless competitive landscape.
About the author...
This review is not so much about the book but rather about the author. I had the chance to have Rosabeth Moss Kanter as a Professor for a semester last year while doing an MBA at Harvard. She has an extraordinary personality, full of passion, full of colors and surprises. A fresh, insightful and pragmatic perspective of the world. A Grand lady who constantly evolves with her time. In my opinion, that's why her books, and Evolve! in particular, are so well written and so inspirational for all of us. Grand books are the reflect of Grand personalities. I cannot wait to get her new book "Confidence". ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Corporate & Business History - General    5. E-Commerce - General    6. Economic aspects    7. Information technology    8. Internet    9. Management - General    10. Organizational change    11. Structural Adjustment    12. Success in business    13. Business & Management    14. Management & management techniques    15. Management    16. Computers    17. Internet - General    18. Electronic commerce    19. Technology    20. Social Aspects   

Reviews (7)

EPCOT ROCKS
This book is really good for the beginning-advanced disney lover. Go ahead and get it if you would really like it.

for sale?
I have a copy of the book and love it. If anyone needs the larger book (over 200 pages) let me know, I have two copies and have an offer for 100-120 for it currently. Totally Awesome
I first read Walt Disney's Epcot Center right after the park had first opened. It's Awesome! If your a Disney nut like I am, you will definately like this book. It gives all of the ideas Walt Disney had for the Experimental Prototype Community Of Tommorrow.(EPCOT) ... Read more

Subjects:  1. EPCOT (Fla.)    2. EPCOT Center (Fla.)    3. Recreational Areas    4. Technology And Social Change   

Editorial Review

Hang a curtain too close to a fireplace and you run the risk of setting your house ablaze. Drive a car on a pitch-black night without headlights, and you dramatically increase the odds of smacking into a tree.Read more

Reviews (26)

This book will change the way you think.
This book will change the way you think. It's as simple as that.Really eye-opening and persuasive arguments and examples as to why the absence of accidents per se is not an adequate indicator of a system's safety. Near-accidents are a better metric.Fascinating!

Recommend but there are some errors in the details
I purchased and read the book for the concepts but enjoyed the examples.However, I did find several errors in the events in which I am familiar. Specifically those of space flight.In as little as four pages (pp267-270) he makes three errors.It makes me wonder about the accuracy of the rest of the book's examples.
The Beginnings of an Influential Theory
having obtained a second hand copy of "Normal Accidents" in the original 1984 edition, it is fascinating to see how many of the accident scenarios are still valid today. When compared with Lagadec's thesis published in 1982 ("Major Technological Risk", Pergamon Collection Futuribles, o. o. p.), the style is easier to understand, and the book is leaning a little more towards US culture and thinking of the 1980s. Incidentally, Lagadec himself reflected in a 1997 paper how "Normal Accident Theory" had become one of the generic views that engineers and/or sociologists had developed since the early 1990s. Even in 1996, Hood and Jones ("Contemporary Debates in Risk Management") quote Perrow as one of the significant contributors to the fundamental debate in risk management.
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Subjects:  1. Accidents    2. Industrial Accidents    3. Industrial Health & Safety    4. Reference    5. Risk assessment    6. Science/Mathematics    7. Social Aspects    8. Technology    9. Technology & Industrial Arts    10. Technology And Social Change    11. Economics    12. Occupational / industrial health & safety    13. Reliability engineering    14. Sociology    15. Sociology, Social Studies    16. Technology / General   

Editorial Review

Considering that the history of the Internet is perhaps better documented internally than any other technological construct, it is remarkable how shadowy its origins have been to most people, including die-hard Net-denizens!