Summary: A loosely linked series of auto-biographical essays by Brisbane based (yes Brisbane!) gay, Chinese Australian, Benjamin Law. David Sedaris light with an Australian aspect. My Take: Given that identity humour is such a focus of “The Family Law”, it’s difficult to avoid applying a stereotypical overlay onto Benjamin Law’s writing. In fact, “The Family [...]
Entries from August 18th, 2010
“The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom”, Yochai Benkler
August 16th, 2010 · No Comments · Economics, ICT, Policy
Synopsis: By lowering the transaction costs of group action, the Internet has made possible a new model of production – commons based peer production. Not market driven, not government directed and not organisationally controlled, peer production within online communities of interest represents a qualitatively new form of production. Benkler was the first to identify it. [...]
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“All The King’s Men”, Robert Penn Warren
August 13th, 2010 · No Comments · History, Literature, Politics, Under-Rated
Summary: Political hack turned apparatchik Jack Burden, narrates the rise and fall of “The Boss”, depression era Louisiana Governor and demagogue, Willie Stark. The roman à clef par excellence. My Take: “All the King’s Men” is quite simply the best dramatic exploration of the political experience in any medium. While it’s most famously known as [...]
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“Infotopia: How Many Minds Produce Knowledge”, Cass Sunstein
August 9th, 2010 · No Comments · ICT, Under-Rated
Synopsis: University of Chicago Professor of Jurisprudence and polymath at large, Cass Sunstein reviews traditional models of aggregating and filtering information in the context of the impact of rapidly evolving technological change. If it was published on Twitter, I’d give it a re-tweet. My Take: The best summary of Cass Sunstien’s “Infotopia” comes from a [...]
Tags:Cass Sunstien
“Atlas Shrugged”, Ayn Rand
August 2nd, 2010 · 5 Comments · Over-Rated, Politics
Synopsis: In a dystopian alternative reality in which the US Government imposes ever greater burdens on America’s industrialists, one man, John Galt, leads the “men of the mind” to withdraw their productive capacity from society. And then talk about it for 1200 pages. Crypto-fascist. My Take: Oh dear, Where to begin? Atlas Shrugged is much [...]
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