ladyhd's review against another edition
4.0
This was a truly interesting book. I hope to take some of the insights garnered from this volume and apply then to my community organizing going forward. I'd recommend to those with interests in social media, commity engagement, and involved citizenry.
jacalata's review against another edition
4.0
Interesting book, probably need to re-read it in a few weeks to absorb it properly. The quote I took away: "Society is shaped by inconvenience and the assumptions that rise up around inconvenience are seen as reality."
pldean's review against another edition
3.0
This is an interesting look at the changes and possibilities inherent in our connected age. Shirky is especially good when discussing the value created at what he divides into four levels of newly-possible (thanks to technology) interaction: personal, communal, public, and civic. He hopes that the cognitive surplus created by modern life -- our extra time, energy, and intellect -- will be spent at least in part at the civic level, enhancing life for all. However, the book is much more descriptive than proscriptive, and Shirky, as one the leading thinkers about the internet and its applications, is skillful at that.
daynpitseleh's review against another edition
2.0
I really enjoyed this book at first, but as I got farther into the book, it seemed slow and lacking in content.
microglyphics's review against another edition
2.0
I am not going to finish this one. Whilst I agree with the author that there may be a cognitive surplus owing to cultural distractions such as television, the narrative is rambling, and the connected digital world is no panacea.
tmaluck's review against another edition
3.0
2015 may be a bit too late for someone my age to read a book about how people are banding together on the internet toward productive ends. It's a neat collection of articles, and I like Shirky's analysis that places it all in context and tries to encapsulate the bigger ideas and vocabulary.
bisthesu's review against another edition
3.0
Shirky describes the economic changes swirling around us as people have disposable free time and an unprecedented ability to create, combining to form a massive potential. Wikipedia is a drop in the bucket compared to what could be done if people reduced the time they watch TV and instead spend it on a massively collaborative project (akin to but different than Wikipedia).
It is informative and pushes you to think about our economy and how media is evolving into something more than we once understood it to be. The collective power we hold as a group of separate individuals is truly staggering. As the ability to combine forces is refined it has the potential to change how we go about our lives. The possibilities of what could be possible are mind blowing.
rdebner's review against another edition
3.0
Although I'd read his previous book, for some reason I had in mind that "cognitive surplus" was going to address the ways in which the internet and web freed our brains for more creative, engaged activities. I got the basic premise wrong: it's more about how online tools enable us to pool our free time (cognitive surplus) to achieve creative, social, communal, or civic projects or ends on a scale that was heretofore impossible for us. I will be mulling this for a while, I'm sure.
sarahconnor89757's review against another edition
5.0
The thing I'll take away from this book is how to put social commentary in the right content. Instead of asking "Why would someone do this?" you need to ask "Why does the world need this?"