skuldintape's review against another edition
3.0
Stopped 100 pages before the end - it's well written but very much a book of it's time. The examples discussed are still valid but it's just not revelatory anymore.
tui_la_dao's review against another edition
4.0
I knew about the Long Tail Concept during my Marketing Master study and while reading this book, many aspects and the whole history (which is fascinating) of the Long Tail was explained and analysed. Even though the book was first published more than a decade ago, its content remains up-to-date, the examples too. Give it a go if you want to dig deeper into the concept, will be nice to read if you are into marketing or economy in general :) Few things the book touched on were forces that birthed the Long Tail (democratization in production, distribution, and how supply and demand find each other faster and easier), economy of scarcity vs. abundance, the paradox of choice (whether it is there or how it can be twisted) and how filters boost confidence when exploring down the Tail, and many more. You may disagree with some ideas or conclusions, but still the idea was presented 15 years ago, and still continued to apply, so, impressive.
bvargo's review against another edition
3.0
Far too long. The end of the book was the long tail of The Long Tail. If you get 1/3-1/2 way through it and find you already know the examples he is going to give, you are probably right. In addition, the book is about technology so it is dated--and thus the end can be left unread.
ultranurd's review against another edition
4.0
This is one of those books that I was very much aware of (thanks to the original Wired article in this case), but never got around to reading. I felt that I should largely because I regularly tossed about the core terminology (that is, long tail or Zipfian distributions) when talking about trends in products, software, Internet culture, and so on.
Overall, I think the book does a great job of introducing its core concept, but then wanders near the end, I think because Anderson was trying to (somewhat ironically) make it appeal to a broad audience of geeks, marketers, economists, and others. I think it would have benefited from more long tail examples from other industries (he touches on food and fashion, for example, in just a few paragraphs at the very end of the book).
I think it was worth reading, and had some interesting trivia, but is already showing its age, in no small part to the paradigm shifts in mobile computing thanks to Apple. A lot of the example companies he used have been marginalized or even gone out of business. I would still recommend it for people who are interested in the topic, but I don't think it has broad appeal, and you have to keep in mind that a 4 year old book is practically ancient in Internet time. I hope he does an updated edition.
Overall, I think the book does a great job of introducing its core concept, but then wanders near the end, I think because Anderson was trying to (somewhat ironically) make it appeal to a broad audience of geeks, marketers, economists, and others. I think it would have benefited from more long tail examples from other industries (he touches on food and fashion, for example, in just a few paragraphs at the very end of the book).
I think it was worth reading, and had some interesting trivia, but is already showing its age, in no small part to the paradigm shifts in mobile computing thanks to Apple. A lot of the example companies he used have been marginalized or even gone out of business. I would still recommend it for people who are interested in the topic, but I don't think it has broad appeal, and you have to keep in mind that a 4 year old book is practically ancient in Internet time. I hope he does an updated edition.
valer_reads's review against another edition
4.0
This didn't need to be a whole book but the thesis is incredibly compelling and worthy of absorbing. It left its mark. I refer to the long tail concept frequently, even years later.
dcjctcac's review against another edition
3.0
An interesting premise with accurate predictions (made in 2006), but the book could have been half the length and just as effective.
loryndalar's review against another edition
4.0
Makes me very uncomfortable regarding just how much writing I should be doing to keep up...