Because it’s book launch day, there’s more about me to post than usual or than I’m comfortable with. Nevertheless:
The Atlantic is running a substantial excerpt of the chapter on scientific knowledge.
And I had a really fun hour on Colin McEnroe’s show on WNPR in Connecticut this afternoon. They’ve already posted it. Colin’s a great interviewer, and I appreciate having the full hour with him.
Get a copy online or from your local bookstore
Excerpt and interview at The Atlantic.
Cory Doctorow's review at BoingBoing.net. Jeff Jarvis' review at BuzzMachine.
"Will this be one of the big books of 2012? Probably." — Tyler Cowen
"Too Big to Know is a stunning and profound book on how our concept of knowledge is changing in the age of the net. It honors the traditional social practices of knowing, where genres stay fixed, and provides a graceful way of understanding new strategies for knowing in today's rapidly evolving, networked world. I couldn't put this book down. It is a true tour du force written in a delightful way."
- John Seely Brown Co-author of The Social Life of Information (2000) and of a New Culture of Learning (2011); Visiting Scholar and Advisor to the Provost, USC; Former Chief Scientist, Xerox Corporation and Director of Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC)
"With this insightful book, David Weinberger cements his status as one of the most important thinkers of the digital age. If you want to understand what it means to live in a world awash in information, Too Big to Know is the guide you've been looking for."
— Daniel H. Pink author of Drive and A Whole New Mind
"Too Big To Know is Weinberger's brilliant synthesis of myriad debates—information overload, echo chambers, the wisdom of crowds—into a single vision of life and work in an era of networked knowledge."— Clay Shirky author of Here Comes Everybody and Cognitive Surplus
"Led by the Internet, knowledge is now social, mobile, and open. Weinberger shows how to unlock the benefits."
— Marc Benioff chairman, CEO salesforce.com, bestselling author of Behind the Cloud
"Too Big to Know is an inspiring read—especially for networked leaders who already believe that the knowledge to change the world is living and active, personal, and vastly interconnected. Weinberger casts the vision of designing networks for the greater good and gives us excellent examples of what that looks like in action, even as he warns us of the pitfalls that await us."
—Tony Burgess Cofounder, CompanyCommand.com
"Too Big to Know is a refreshing antidote to the doomsday literature of information overload. Weinberger outlines a bold Net infrastructure strategy that is inclusive rather that exclusive, creates more useful information, exploits linking technologies, and encourages institutional participation. The result is a network that is both 'a commons and a wilds' where the excitement lies in the limitless possibilities that connected human beings can realize."
—David S. Ferriero Archivist of the United States
#1 by Frank Paynter on January 4, 2012 - 1:02 pm
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Congratulations on the launch! My copy arrived in the mail yesterday. Today I’m re-reading Vannevar Bush’s “As We May Think” and just for grins I thought to cross reference what you may have said about that foundational piece. In the July, 1945 “Atlantic,” Bush says,
But woe is me… I can’t find either a bibliographic reference here or an index reference for Bush in “2B2K.” Never mind, there’s a Bush quote on page 191 of “Everything is Miscellaneous.” I KNEW you knew about that “Atlantic” article. Generations from now graduate students will don their tinfoil knowledge helmets and know you knew too!
Reading 2B2K is going to be a joy! Thank you for keeping these volumes coming. I feel enriched by your work again and again.
#2 by Paul Henley on January 5, 2012 - 7:39 pm
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All this, and you just got by Sidonie Smith at the MLA conference this afternoon. Great day!
#3 by dweinberger on January 6, 2012 - 5:32 pm
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Thanks, Frank! The Bush piece continues to be amazingly prescient.