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The Last Best Place on the Internet: A Human History of Wikipedia
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Expected 13 Oct 26A playful and provocative exploration of mighty Wikipedia: how it was built, why it thrived, and what we lose as its ideals disintegrate.
One of the keystone inventions of the twenty-first century, Wikipedia is the largest repository of human knowledge ever made, with editions in 343 languages read by millions every day—all created by unpaid, mainly amateur, and mostly anonymous volunteers. In this entertaining book, journalist Richard Cooke delves into Wikipedia’s fabled creation, its extraordinary success, and its profound effects on politics, business, literature, and society. He explores the site’s shifting role in establishing fact in a time of deep uncertainty about truth and authority; the often hilariously fierce debates between “Inclusionists” and “Deletionists” about what is worth knowing and preserving, and who gets to decide; and the great peril Wikipedia faces today from bots, political division, and artificial intelligence. The Last Best Place on the Internet is a fascinating journey into the hidden world of one of the most vital—and most endangered—cultural achievements of our time.
One of the keystone inventions of the twenty-first century, Wikipedia is the largest repository of human knowledge ever made, with editions in 343 languages read by millions every day—all created by unpaid, mainly amateur, and mostly anonymous volunteers. In this entertaining book, journalist Richard Cooke delves into Wikipedia’s fabled creation, its extraordinary success, and its profound effects on politics, business, literature, and society. He explores the site’s shifting role in establishing fact in a time of deep uncertainty about truth and authority; the often hilariously fierce debates between “Inclusionists” and “Deletionists” about what is worth knowing and preserving, and who gets to decide; and the great peril Wikipedia faces today from bots, political division, and artificial intelligence. The Last Best Place on the Internet is a fascinating journey into the hidden world of one of the most vital—and most endangered—cultural achievements of our time.
320 pages, Hardcover
Expected publication October 13, 2026
About the author
Richard Cooke
7 books17 followersRichard Cooke is an internationally-based writer, screenwriter and author.
He has contributed to the The New York Times, The Washington Post, WIRED, The New Republic, The Guardian, and Longreads, among others.
His work has been selected for the Best of Longform and Best Australian Essays multiple times. He is the Monthly magazine’s Contributing Editor and former US Correspondent.
He is a two-time Walkley Award winner, a former finalist in the Walkley-Pascall arts critic’s award, and was the 2018 Mumbrella Publish Awards Columnist of the Year.
He has contributed to the The New York Times, The Washington Post, WIRED, The New Republic, The Guardian, and Longreads, among others.
His work has been selected for the Best of Longform and Best Australian Essays multiple times. He is the Monthly magazine’s Contributing Editor and former US Correspondent.
He is a two-time Walkley Award winner, a former finalist in the Walkley-Pascall arts critic’s award, and was the 2018 Mumbrella Publish Awards Columnist of the Year.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
The story of Wikipedia is the story of the internet.
It germinated in the techono-libertarian spheres of the American west coast. It started as a project for people from all over the world to collaborate. It was built by volunteers who wrote articles about their home countries, historical figures, favorite sci-fi books and TV shows, and much much more, simply because they wanted to. It grew as more and more people got online, first through personal computers and then through smartphones. It became a feature of modern life.
The story of Wikipedia is the opposite of the story of the internet.
As other web-based ventures sought to make their founders boatloads of money, Wikipedia stayed an nonprofit. Those ventures crashed and burned in the dot-com bust, but Wikipedia soldiered on. While the rest of the internet enshittified (mostly due to "bottom line" thinking, AI, and the whims of the billionaire class), Wikipedia stayed more of less the same. A quarter-century later, and it's still just about the best thing on the internet.
But everything that Wikipedia has built and accomplished over the last twenty-five and a half years is in danger. Governments do what they can to ban it (or edit it for themselves). AI (which itself is largely trained of Wikipedia, and thus the contributions of an untold number of unpaid volunteers) seeks to replace it. Those AI platforms come from bad-faith billionaires in cahoots with bad-faith governments (sorry not sorry). However, the biggest threat to Wikipedia may come from ourselves. If we, as a society, decide to go whole hog on AI, we run the risk of Wikipedia becoming a footnote in the story of the AI that controls our day-to-day lives. And that would be a damn shame. The final nail in the coffin containing the Old Internet.
I love Wikipedia. I really do think it's the last best place on the internet. It's not without its problems but as an institution its about as good as a worldwide project can get. I'm glad somebody went and wrote a book about it. The Last Best Place on the Internet looks at the history and founding, how it works (and doesn't work), how it relates to and (pretty much in every single way) dominates traditional print encyclopedias. It examines the inherent weaknesses and blind spots of an encyclopedia that anyone can edit (the parts about how non-literate societies constitute a whole branch of human knowledge that just can't translate to Wikipedia was an eye-opener). And it makes the case for why we need to keep billionaire dweebs like Elon Musk away from it at all costs.
Cheers to Wikipedia. Nobody will ever make another website like it. And if it ever goes away (or become enshittified) we'll never know just how good we had it.
I read an ARC from the publisher, which I picked up at ALA. The final version that hits shelves in October may differ slightly from the version I reviewed here.
It germinated in the techono-libertarian spheres of the American west coast. It started as a project for people from all over the world to collaborate. It was built by volunteers who wrote articles about their home countries, historical figures, favorite sci-fi books and TV shows, and much much more, simply because they wanted to. It grew as more and more people got online, first through personal computers and then through smartphones. It became a feature of modern life.
The story of Wikipedia is the opposite of the story of the internet.
As other web-based ventures sought to make their founders boatloads of money, Wikipedia stayed an nonprofit. Those ventures crashed and burned in the dot-com bust, but Wikipedia soldiered on. While the rest of the internet enshittified (mostly due to "bottom line" thinking, AI, and the whims of the billionaire class), Wikipedia stayed more of less the same. A quarter-century later, and it's still just about the best thing on the internet.
But everything that Wikipedia has built and accomplished over the last twenty-five and a half years is in danger. Governments do what they can to ban it (or edit it for themselves). AI (which itself is largely trained of Wikipedia, and thus the contributions of an untold number of unpaid volunteers) seeks to replace it. Those AI platforms come from bad-faith billionaires in cahoots with bad-faith governments (sorry not sorry). However, the biggest threat to Wikipedia may come from ourselves. If we, as a society, decide to go whole hog on AI, we run the risk of Wikipedia becoming a footnote in the story of the AI that controls our day-to-day lives. And that would be a damn shame. The final nail in the coffin containing the Old Internet.
I love Wikipedia. I really do think it's the last best place on the internet. It's not without its problems but as an institution its about as good as a worldwide project can get. I'm glad somebody went and wrote a book about it. The Last Best Place on the Internet looks at the history and founding, how it works (and doesn't work), how it relates to and (pretty much in every single way) dominates traditional print encyclopedias. It examines the inherent weaknesses and blind spots of an encyclopedia that anyone can edit (the parts about how non-literate societies constitute a whole branch of human knowledge that just can't translate to Wikipedia was an eye-opener). And it makes the case for why we need to keep billionaire dweebs like Elon Musk away from it at all costs.
Cheers to Wikipedia. Nobody will ever make another website like it. And if it ever goes away (or become enshittified) we'll never know just how good we had it.
I read an ARC from the publisher, which I picked up at ALA. The final version that hits shelves in October may differ slightly from the version I reviewed here.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Remember when Wikipedia was considered the bellwether of academic decline? That concern feels quaint in the light of the current A.I. shitshow, but it's worth taking a step back to understand the unique niche Wikipedia has carved out over the past 25 years. The Last Best Place covers the site's tumultuous history, the volunteers who painstakingly edit the entries, and the controversial issues that have emerged such as misogyny, accusations of liberal bias, and threats of governmental interference.
Cooke also delves into the philosophical underpinnings of encyclopedias in general. On the surface, A.I. seems like a threat to Wikipedia, but at a deeper level A.I. could completely change how we define and prioritize "knowledge."
E-ARC received from Net Galley. Quoted material may change before publication.
Cooke also delves into the philosophical underpinnings of encyclopedias in general. On the surface, A.I. seems like a threat to Wikipedia, but at a deeper level A.I. could completely change how we define and prioritize "knowledge."
Just as Wikipedia exploded our concept of "looking something up," AI is already creating knowledge machines that may usher in the end of reading as a static, mostly passive activity, creating a postliterate culture in which the end of the encyclopedic age is only a footnote...[We face} an encyclopedia that rewrites itself each time it is consulted, forming and re-forming into endless texts personalized for the reader.Cooke's writing style is informative without being too technical, with a good mix of micro and macro approaches to the material. Recommended especially if you're wondering why such an influential site is constantly begging for your $2.75 donation.
E-ARC received from Net Galley. Quoted material may change before publication.
September 13, 2026
Essential.
Proper review and interview with the author to follow.
Proper review and interview with the author to follow.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I have enjoyed my limited but fulfilling additions (not deletions) to the great web Encyclopedia. This book is timely and I highly recommend reading it especially if you value knowledge, as it is currently under attack by right wing individuals especially Elon Musk.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews