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An Army of Davids: How Markets and Technology Empower Ordinary People to Beat Big Media, Big Government, and Other Goliaths
There was a time in the not-too-distant past when large companies and powerful governments reigned supreme over the little guy. But new technologies are empowering individuals like never before, and the Davids of the world-the amateur journalists, musicians, and small businessmen and women-are suddenly making a huge economic and social impact.
In Army of Davids, author Glenn Reynolds, the man behind the immensely popular Instapundit.com, provides an in-depth, big-picture point-of-view for a world where the small guys matter more and more. Reynolds explores the birth and growth of the individual's surprisingly strong influence arts and entertainment, anti-terrorism, nanotech and space research, and much more.
The balance of power between the individual and the organization is finally evening out. And it's high time the Goliaths of the world pay attention, because, as this book proves, an army of Davids is on the rise.
"George Orwell feared that technology would enable dictators to enslave the masses. Glenn Reynolds shows that technology can empower individuals to determine their own futures and to defeat those who would enslave us. This is a book of profound importance-and also a darn good read." -MICHAEL BARONE, senior writer at U.S. News & World Report and author of Hard America, Soft America
"Blogger extraordinaire Glenn Reynolds shows how average Americans can use new technologies to overcome the twin demons of corporate greed and incompetent government. Reynolds is a compelling evangelist for the power of the individual to change our world." -ARIANNA HUFFINGTON, author of Pigs at the Trough and Fanatics and Fools
"A smart, fun tour of a major social and economic trend. From home-brewed beer to blogging, Glenn Reynolds is an engaging, uniquely qualified guide to the do-it-yourself movements transforming business, politics, and media." -VIRGINIA POSTREL, Forbes columnist and author of The Future and its Enemies and The Substance of Style
"A student in her dorm room now commands the resources of a multi-million dollar music recording or movie editing studio of not so many years ago. The tools of creativity have been democratized and the tools of production are not far behind (Karl Marx take note). Glenn Reynolds's beguiling new book tells the insightful story of how an 'army of Davids' is inheriting the Earth, leaving a trail of obsolete business models not to mention cultural, economic, and political institutions in its wake." -RAY KURZWEIL, scientist, inventor, and author of several books including The Singularity is Near
'Must-read,' 'gotta have,' 'culture-changing' . . . I am suspicious of blurbs with such overused plugs. But Glenn Reynolds's An Army of Davids is in fact a must-read new book that you gotta have if you are going to understand the culture-changing forces that are unleashed and at work across the globe. -HUGH HEWITT, syndicated talk radio host and author of Blog and Painting the Map Red
"Glenn Reynolds has written an essential book for understanding how technology and markets are creating a bottom-up shift in power to ordinary people that is changing business, government, and our world.
In Army of Davids, author Glenn Reynolds, the man behind the immensely popular Instapundit.com, provides an in-depth, big-picture point-of-view for a world where the small guys matter more and more. Reynolds explores the birth and growth of the individual's surprisingly strong influence arts and entertainment, anti-terrorism, nanotech and space research, and much more.
The balance of power between the individual and the organization is finally evening out. And it's high time the Goliaths of the world pay attention, because, as this book proves, an army of Davids is on the rise.
"George Orwell feared that technology would enable dictators to enslave the masses. Glenn Reynolds shows that technology can empower individuals to determine their own futures and to defeat those who would enslave us. This is a book of profound importance-and also a darn good read." -MICHAEL BARONE, senior writer at U.S. News & World Report and author of Hard America, Soft America
"Blogger extraordinaire Glenn Reynolds shows how average Americans can use new technologies to overcome the twin demons of corporate greed and incompetent government. Reynolds is a compelling evangelist for the power of the individual to change our world." -ARIANNA HUFFINGTON, author of Pigs at the Trough and Fanatics and Fools
"A smart, fun tour of a major social and economic trend. From home-brewed beer to blogging, Glenn Reynolds is an engaging, uniquely qualified guide to the do-it-yourself movements transforming business, politics, and media." -VIRGINIA POSTREL, Forbes columnist and author of The Future and its Enemies and The Substance of Style
"A student in her dorm room now commands the resources of a multi-million dollar music recording or movie editing studio of not so many years ago. The tools of creativity have been democratized and the tools of production are not far behind (Karl Marx take note). Glenn Reynolds's beguiling new book tells the insightful story of how an 'army of Davids' is inheriting the Earth, leaving a trail of obsolete business models not to mention cultural, economic, and political institutions in its wake." -RAY KURZWEIL, scientist, inventor, and author of several books including The Singularity is Near
'Must-read,' 'gotta have,' 'culture-changing' . . . I am suspicious of blurbs with such overused plugs. But Glenn Reynolds's An Army of Davids is in fact a must-read new book that you gotta have if you are going to understand the culture-changing forces that are unleashed and at work across the globe. -HUGH HEWITT, syndicated talk radio host and author of Blog and Painting the Map Red
"Glenn Reynolds has written an essential book for understanding how technology and markets are creating a bottom-up shift in power to ordinary people that is changing business, government, and our world.
306 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 7, 2006
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195 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
October 24, 2015
Good, sound reasoning; clear, wide-ranging reporting; non-ostentatious, pie-in-the-sky claims made or conclusions drawn ... why isn't this book reaching a broader audience? I suppose it's the inevitable "heard above the din" problem, accessible media or not; maybe it came out with no small amount of attention at the time, and it just got lost in the shuffle since. Maybe I'm just a dumbass on some days (never impossible!). I don't want to summarize this book, or get into too much analysis; it reads like butter, so I'll just get out of its way. Buy a used copy at Powell's, or move to Portland, or have a friend who lives here mail you a copy. Just get it in your head, alright?
August 16, 2012
Good book but if you read Glenn Reynolds' blog (instapundit.com) you already know most of what he's going to be saying about the little guy vs. the big guy and the areas of his interests, primarily bloggers, space and the singularity... I highly recommend following his and his wifes' (Helen Smith) blogs.
June 14, 2023
Insightful.
December 24, 2012
There are probably interesting things to say about how technology is empowering people to do things only previously available to the rich and mega-corporations. Unfortunately, this book is not really about those things. Reynolds takes what he sees day-to-day, which is the upper-middle class bloggers and other similar groups, and combines that with what he apparently really wants to be true, and extrapolates from there. Years after this book was written, and we've seen corporations co-opt this technology rather than being seriously challenged by it.
Also, a book about science-fiction meets reality at some point in the future, and what that'll look like, would be an interesting book. But this book explores some of those concepts in a completely uncritical way, and it seems way off-topic from the first half of the book. It starts with giving video cameras to every soldier in Iraq to prevent war crimes, and ends with people living to 200 and terraforming Mars. I'm a little unclear what this book was actually supposed to be about, despite the extremely descriptive title.
Some specific comments:
The problem with everybody producing their own music/books/art etc is that it makes it impossible to sort through it all to find the wheat in the huge piles of chaff. Reynolds apparently hangs out a B&N all day on his computer, so maybe he's got more time for it than I do. The fact is that almost all self-published books are total shit, and now there's less pressure for publishers to publish quality, because all that shit is selling for so cheap already. I have yet to see the benefit of this in a serious way.
The reason most people go to major media outlets is that we don't have time to research every aspect of the news ourselves. Reynolds mentions visiting 10 or so blogs for different kinds of news. Bully for him, but I've got an actual job that doesn't give me that kind of freedom. There's significant evidence that people are unable to separate crackpots from actually informed bloggers, and just find stuff that reinforces what they think should be true (this book may be a great example of this...) so I don't know that people are actually better informed. Also, the demise of major media outlets may have some very real benefits, but for me it always comes back to the Woodward and Bernstein example. No blogger has the kind of backing from a major outlet that can protect them while giving them the resources to conduct this kind of critical investigation. We're already losing this through the dilution of media. Not that mass media is the answer, but we need to seriously look at what we're losing with bloggers as well.
I'm pretty confused about how children playing war games will decrease our susceptibility to terrorist attacks and loan shooters. There's pretty clear evidence that more people having guns doesn't actually reduce gun violence, and I'm not sure that preparing teenagers to go to war is something we should be especially proud of. And I'm also not sure why having very war-smart geeks playing more complicated versions of Risk makes our military better, since those people tend not to be in the military. And knowing about chariot battles in ancient Rome may be interesting, but I'm skeptical about how applicable it is to modern warfare in Afghanistan. I do agree with him that it's stupid to talk about video games and violence in children when there are so many other violent aspects to our culture, though.
One last gripe: Me-dia to We-dia? You have got to be shitting me. Even if there's a valid point in this chapter, this kind of cutie-pie titling has just got to stop.
Also, a book about science-fiction meets reality at some point in the future, and what that'll look like, would be an interesting book. But this book explores some of those concepts in a completely uncritical way, and it seems way off-topic from the first half of the book. It starts with giving video cameras to every soldier in Iraq to prevent war crimes, and ends with people living to 200 and terraforming Mars. I'm a little unclear what this book was actually supposed to be about, despite the extremely descriptive title.
Some specific comments:
The problem with everybody producing their own music/books/art etc is that it makes it impossible to sort through it all to find the wheat in the huge piles of chaff. Reynolds apparently hangs out a B&N all day on his computer, so maybe he's got more time for it than I do. The fact is that almost all self-published books are total shit, and now there's less pressure for publishers to publish quality, because all that shit is selling for so cheap already. I have yet to see the benefit of this in a serious way.
The reason most people go to major media outlets is that we don't have time to research every aspect of the news ourselves. Reynolds mentions visiting 10 or so blogs for different kinds of news. Bully for him, but I've got an actual job that doesn't give me that kind of freedom. There's significant evidence that people are unable to separate crackpots from actually informed bloggers, and just find stuff that reinforces what they think should be true (this book may be a great example of this...) so I don't know that people are actually better informed. Also, the demise of major media outlets may have some very real benefits, but for me it always comes back to the Woodward and Bernstein example. No blogger has the kind of backing from a major outlet that can protect them while giving them the resources to conduct this kind of critical investigation. We're already losing this through the dilution of media. Not that mass media is the answer, but we need to seriously look at what we're losing with bloggers as well.
I'm pretty confused about how children playing war games will decrease our susceptibility to terrorist attacks and loan shooters. There's pretty clear evidence that more people having guns doesn't actually reduce gun violence, and I'm not sure that preparing teenagers to go to war is something we should be especially proud of. And I'm also not sure why having very war-smart geeks playing more complicated versions of Risk makes our military better, since those people tend not to be in the military. And knowing about chariot battles in ancient Rome may be interesting, but I'm skeptical about how applicable it is to modern warfare in Afghanistan. I do agree with him that it's stupid to talk about video games and violence in children when there are so many other violent aspects to our culture, though.
One last gripe: Me-dia to We-dia? You have got to be shitting me. Even if there's a valid point in this chapter, this kind of cutie-pie titling has just got to stop.
September 29, 2012
Again pulling the largest book currently remaining from the gift box, I find it is a non-fiction examination of the use of technology to succeed as individuals--a subject which I approached with suspicion, as I have been using technology and have not yet met with anything approaching success thereby, but perhaps the jury is still out.
The book proved to be an interesting and valuable overview of advances in what might be considered "fringe technology"--gerontology, robotics, genetic engineering, and other perhaps cutting edge fields that are supposedly moving us toward Vernor Vinge's "singularity". Much of this I knew, in part because it rehashed information I read in Omni in the early 80's, and in part because I do keep half an eye on such advances when they make the Internet news sources. What is more intriguing is Reynold's take on it as moving us toward a future of individual empowerment.
I remain skeptical. Reynolds is the famed blogger Instapundit, and a law school professor; I have often noted that you never read books by the people whose efforts failed, even when they were trying to do the same things as those who succeeded, and that those who succeed do not always understand the causes of their success. That the book is now six years old also makes some difference; the Internet in particular has taken turns that perhaps do not fit his expectations, and there were other details that played against him--it hurt that he saw a great future in the way Borders was redefining itself as a community gathering place, given the recent collapse of that company. Whether nanotechnology will move in the direction he predicts, giving individuals the same power over materials that the Internet gives us over information, we cannot yet say.
In his conclusion, he distinguishes optimists, among whom he includes himself, from pessimists, saying that optimists think humans are basically good; but pessimists, he claimed, "view the mass of humanity as dark, ignorant, and in need of close supervision by its betters". I hold a different view. I think that humans are predominantly selfish, and I would say that this is a pessimistic view, but I do not think that there are any "betters" among us who ought to be put in the roles of supervision. This, though, causes me some concern. One of the things that makes society work is that we need each other, and so it is ultimately in our selfish self-interest to be nice. The future he envisions is one in which every man can be an island, and we will no longer need each other. He does not see that; he sees the empowering of individuals as beneficial to all, and perhaps it is beneficial to those who can excel given the opportunity, but it is often overlooked by those of us who are above average that almost half the population is below average, and a future world in which all are empowered might not be a world that is favorable for them.
I'm glad I read it, and I might return to it as a reference book, but I cannot share his optimistic view of individual empowerment in the future.
The book proved to be an interesting and valuable overview of advances in what might be considered "fringe technology"--gerontology, robotics, genetic engineering, and other perhaps cutting edge fields that are supposedly moving us toward Vernor Vinge's "singularity". Much of this I knew, in part because it rehashed information I read in Omni in the early 80's, and in part because I do keep half an eye on such advances when they make the Internet news sources. What is more intriguing is Reynold's take on it as moving us toward a future of individual empowerment.
I remain skeptical. Reynolds is the famed blogger Instapundit, and a law school professor; I have often noted that you never read books by the people whose efforts failed, even when they were trying to do the same things as those who succeeded, and that those who succeed do not always understand the causes of their success. That the book is now six years old also makes some difference; the Internet in particular has taken turns that perhaps do not fit his expectations, and there were other details that played against him--it hurt that he saw a great future in the way Borders was redefining itself as a community gathering place, given the recent collapse of that company. Whether nanotechnology will move in the direction he predicts, giving individuals the same power over materials that the Internet gives us over information, we cannot yet say.
In his conclusion, he distinguishes optimists, among whom he includes himself, from pessimists, saying that optimists think humans are basically good; but pessimists, he claimed, "view the mass of humanity as dark, ignorant, and in need of close supervision by its betters". I hold a different view. I think that humans are predominantly selfish, and I would say that this is a pessimistic view, but I do not think that there are any "betters" among us who ought to be put in the roles of supervision. This, though, causes me some concern. One of the things that makes society work is that we need each other, and so it is ultimately in our selfish self-interest to be nice. The future he envisions is one in which every man can be an island, and we will no longer need each other. He does not see that; he sees the empowering of individuals as beneficial to all, and perhaps it is beneficial to those who can excel given the opportunity, but it is often overlooked by those of us who are above average that almost half the population is below average, and a future world in which all are empowered might not be a world that is favorable for them.
I'm glad I read it, and I might return to it as a reference book, but I cannot share his optimistic view of individual empowerment in the future.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 25, 2011
Tal recommended this book to me a few months ago, and it was pretty good. Reynolds makes a reasonably convincing case that the phenomenon of wide-scale distribution rather than centralized control is having a radical effect on subjects as diverse as law enforcement, the collection and dissemination of news, education, and space exploration.
Reynolds makes his strongest points first - his speculative futurism is not as strong as his analysis of trends which are already in progress. In large measure, I wouldn't say that this book breaks hugely new ground - the idea of distributed reporting bringing down the established media giants was well worn back in 2004 with Epic 2014 and others. However, Reynolds does point out some places where distributed approaches have met great success in ways that are not normally lumped in with the typical bloggers - Amber alerts and America's Most Wanted, for instance: those are phenomenal examples of the value and success of crowd-sourcing, and are only possible because lots of people are willing to participate.
However, Reynolds takes the tack of an advocate rather than that of an examiner - he cites the arrest of Ted Kaczynski as a case of crowd-sourcing (the writing samples which led to Kaczynski's arrest were leaked and recognized), but ignores some of the more traditional-policework cases such as the arrest of Timothy McVeigh. Reynolds overstates the case, saying that the day for traditional policework in fighting terrorism is at an end, and in so doing, weakens it.
All said, it's a well-written easy read which makes some decent points and is encouraging for those of us who are hobbyists.
Reynolds makes his strongest points first - his speculative futurism is not as strong as his analysis of trends which are already in progress. In large measure, I wouldn't say that this book breaks hugely new ground - the idea of distributed reporting bringing down the established media giants was well worn back in 2004 with Epic 2014 and others. However, Reynolds does point out some places where distributed approaches have met great success in ways that are not normally lumped in with the typical bloggers - Amber alerts and America's Most Wanted, for instance: those are phenomenal examples of the value and success of crowd-sourcing, and are only possible because lots of people are willing to participate.
However, Reynolds takes the tack of an advocate rather than that of an examiner - he cites the arrest of Ted Kaczynski as a case of crowd-sourcing (the writing samples which led to Kaczynski's arrest were leaked and recognized), but ignores some of the more traditional-policework cases such as the arrest of Timothy McVeigh. Reynolds overstates the case, saying that the day for traditional policework in fighting terrorism is at an end, and in so doing, weakens it.
All said, it's a well-written easy read which makes some decent points and is encouraging for those of us who are hobbyists.
May 15, 2021
[Imported automatically from my blog. Some formatting there may not have translated here.]
Hey, did you know Glenn Reynolds wrote a book? I had a vague memory of him mentioning it once or twice on his blog, and I saw it at Amazon, so …
But seriously, it's good. Longtime Instapundit readers will recognize most, if not all, of the book's themes. And people worried about whether Glenn could write something coherent beyond the length of a typical blog post can rest assured. (Kidding! This isn't his first book!) Glenn's writing style is chatty and jokey.
The subtitle expresses the theme: "How Markets and Technology Empower Ordinary People to Beat Big Media, Big Government, and Other Goliaths" There are chapters on space exploration, life extension, and nanotechnology. Also one on the "Singularity", the prediction that the exponential increase in computing power will result in superhuman intelligence and unprecendented changes in everyday life.
Maybe we'll finally get those flying cars.
This is very worthwhile reading for people interested in how technological trends mold society, and the arguments are plausible.
March 31, 2015
On page 36 there is a quote about Athens, GA where I live about a wireless network downtown anyone can use. When I first moved here, there was something like this, but I had to have a university account to make use of it. Also, I did not recognize Blue Sky Coffee, the coffee shop mentioned. So I looked up the article quoted, "Urban Renewal: The Wireless Way" and the coffee shop. Blue Sky Coffee closed less than a month after the article mentioned it. The wireless network four years later.
The Blue Sky Coffee closure should have been pretty obvious to the author or editor. Except that I lived in the city mentioned, I would have not stumbled on it. Because I did, everything else suffered a more skeptical analysis. And there was plenty of cherry picked examples with just dismissive mentions of counter evidence. So even though for the most part I agree with the conclusions, I was disappointed with how we arrived there.
The worst part is the predictions. Authors really should stay away from them unless they can ensure the writing will not be read after the predicted event.
The Blue Sky Coffee closure should have been pretty obvious to the author or editor. Except that I lived in the city mentioned, I would have not stumbled on it. Because I did, everything else suffered a more skeptical analysis. And there was plenty of cherry picked examples with just dismissive mentions of counter evidence. So even though for the most part I agree with the conclusions, I was disappointed with how we arrived there.
The worst part is the predictions. Authors really should stay away from them unless they can ensure the writing will not be read after the predicted event.
November 24, 2018
This is an interesting look at the use of ever-less-costly technology to empower individuals, small business, and other less dominant groups to compete with larger, wealthier, and better organized entities that previously had a lock on media and industry. Anyone who is familiar with Prof. Reynolds' online blogging persona, Instapundit, knows of the professor's libertarian leanings, with which the subject matter here dovetails nicely.
The strength of An Army of Davids lies more with its ideas than with Reynolds' writing, which is somewhat on the dry side (not surprising for a law professor). But it is still readable, and easily so.
The strength of An Army of Davids lies more with its ideas than with Reynolds' writing, which is somewhat on the dry side (not surprising for a law professor). But it is still readable, and easily so.
June 29, 2007
This book was okay. It's about the way information is changing the world and allowing individuals to have more control over larger industries.
I didn't finish the book because it went off in places that I didn't interests me for example he talks about journalism and how war vets are blogging and calling the big news companies on their lies etc...actually this did interest but he went on for chapters when his point was already made. Stuff like that made the book a little less enjoyable for me but still give it a try.
I didn't finish the book because it went off in places that I didn't interests me for example he talks about journalism and how war vets are blogging and calling the big news companies on their lies etc...actually this did interest but he went on for chapters when his point was already made. Stuff like that made the book a little less enjoyable for me but still give it a try.
October 4, 2008
The little people are becoming increasingly empowered. They now can leverage their size to compete on the grand scale.
Quotes:
"The secret to success in big business and politics in the twenty-first century, I think, will involve figuring out a way to capitalize on the phenomenon of lots of people doing what they want to do, rather than - as in previous centuries - figuring out ways to make lots of people do what you want them to."
Quotes:
"The secret to success in big business and politics in the twenty-first century, I think, will involve figuring out a way to capitalize on the phenomenon of lots of people doing what they want to do, rather than - as in previous centuries - figuring out ways to make lots of people do what you want them to."
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 3, 2018
I got a pre-release copy. Good book.
For those who don't know, Glenn Reynolds is a law professor at the University of Tennessee and is a blogger extraordinaire. He created Instapundit.com
Reynolds is always an enjoyable read online.
He rightly argues that freedom and liberty allow ordinary men to overcome the tyranny of government, the mainstream media, etc.
For those who don't know, Glenn Reynolds is a law professor at the University of Tennessee and is a blogger extraordinaire. He created Instapundit.com
Reynolds is always an enjoyable read online.
He rightly argues that freedom and liberty allow ordinary men to overcome the tyranny of government, the mainstream media, etc.
June 11, 2007
This is a must read. Not fiction or a novel. A great and thoughtful analysis on where technology and the internet will bring us in 20 years. How society is evolving, the impact globalization is having.
May 3, 2010
If there is one book about our culture you haven't ever heard of that I'd recommend you read this would probably be it. Professor Reynold's talks about how technology is already and will likely to continue to transform our culture. An awesome book.
May 18, 2013
The was interesting reading with lots of anecdotes, but the subtitle really summarizes the point. I especially appreciated the description about how blogging is affecting mass media. I also gathered quite a few additions to my reading list from this book.
Read
July 14, 2009I loved this book and found interest beyond expectation. I was as inspired as I hope to be by the title and I found lots more very thought provoking material on topics I didn't expect.
July 26, 2009
A skimmer. Very thin.
March 8, 2010
Interesting take on the power/role/effectiveness of smaller groups being able to respond to things (i.e. bloggers/big media).
Read
April 17, 2010"An Army of Davids: How Markets and Technology Empower Ordinary People to Beat Big Media, Big Government, and Other Golia by Glenn Reynolds (2006)"
August 8, 2011
Interesting treatise on a growing social and economical trend. An empowering read for those who could not voice out their discontent before. Technology has now given them a loudspeaker.
October 10, 2011
I would have rated this three stars had I read it when it first came out, but the information is just not new to me anymore.
March 29, 2013
A should-read book for knowledge workers and entrepreneurs on concepts and social trends.
November 29, 2013
Great analysis of how individuals and small groups can more effectively tackle things in ways large governments and corporations cannot.
Want to read
March 26, 2009NULL
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews