Two books

The Filter Bubble: What the Internet is Hiding from You by Eli Pariser

Pariser's argument is that the personalization of the Internet is creating tunnel vision: instead of democratizing the world with unsurpassed access to information, the Internet increasingly shows only what it thinks we want to see. The clearest example is to ask you and a friend to search for the same term on your own computers: searching for the term "Egypt" may result in information about the 2011 protests for you, but tourist destinations for your friend.

The topic is important, but I was disappointed by the book. What kept me reading through 200+ pages of depressing evidence was the certainty that the last chapter would describe how to pop the filter bubble. But unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be much one can do on an individual level beyond periodically deleting cookies and changing up your search terms (e.g., read FOX news and the Huffington Post). Changes really have to be made by the companies (e.g., Google, Facebook) and the government, but changes will only come when people gather together to demand to know how their personal data is being used. Ultimately, the book, like Pariser's MoveOn.org, is a call for social change - one definitely worth making - but I'm not sure a whole book was necessary when an essay (or even Pariser's TED talk) would have sufficed.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Dates: 20-26 June

*****

Little Bets: How Breakthrough Ideas Emerge from Small Discoveries by Peter Sims

After The Filter Bubble, Little Bets was fun to read. The title says it all: Sims argues that instead of worrying about creating the next "big" thing, we should make small projects that allow us to fail quickly and teach us how to improve. He uses many different examples (Starbucks, Frank Gehry, the Iraq war), and I was shocked to see my term for dealing with writer's block: shitty rough drafts. The comedian Chris Rock, who starts off the book, is a very good example: as successful as he is, Rock still develops his act by trying out new material (over 90% of which will bomb) at a local comedy club, and taking copious notes on the audience's body language.

Frankly, the book sometimes reads like a clunky literature review: Sims features different aspects of the same examples according to the chapter theme, and the transitions are sometimes abrupt. But the book is short (under 200 pages) and quick to read. Plus, I can definitely apply it to my life. I already use the concept of "little bets" to help Nikita practice the violin, and I will incorporate some of the stories about Pixar into my lectures.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Dates: 27-28 June 2011