Book Review Mondays

What would Google do?
by Jeff Jarvis

Book Review by Richard L. Weaver II, Ph.D.

I found this book fascinating simply because it challenges you to think. Jeff Jarvis has numerous credentials. He is on the faculty of the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism. He was the creator and founding editor of Entertainment Weekly. He writes the new media column for the Guardian in London. His book has three parts, and if I was asked which part I enjoyed the most, I would be hard pressed to give an answer, and here’s why. I have always been intrigued by Google, and the first part of the book explains its philosophy in a set of 40 rules divided into 10 categories. For example, his opening section, “New Relationship,” includes 4 rules: 1) Give the people control and we will use it, 2) Dell hell, 3) Your worst customer is your best friend, 4) Your best customer is your partner. This is just one example, of course. But I found great information in the rules, “The link changes everything,” “If you’re not searchable, you won’t be found,” and “Simplify, simplify.” There are many more. In the second part of the book, “If Google Ruled the World,” Jarvis simply applies the rules discussed in the first part of the book to a long list of businesses: media, advertising, retail, utilities, manufacturing, service, money, public welfare, public institutions, and exceptions. In the third part (only 10 pages long) called, “Generation G,” Jarvis focuses on social implications of the new power structure, dramatically democratized by Google's solutions. In one Amazon.com review, B. Mann writes, “While many companies were sleeping, the rules of business changed, at least as it pertains to business built on, or enabled by, the Internet. Or maybe not all the rules changed (e.g. Wal-Mart, the big dog, will remain the big dog), but a new set of rules has been layered on top (e.g. small is the new big). With those new rules (plus, admittedly, luck), Google has become a behemoth, cyberly speaking. In the process, Google helped redefine the fundamental nature of the relationships between seller, buyer, advertiser, and the 'middlemen' whose value in society is rapidly evaporating.” Although there is a bit too much of Jarvis in this book (self-advertising and self-admiration can be taken too far), it is still a worthwhile read. It is not a book about what Google does, but a book of what people can do with Google. And, furthermore, it is not a practical book, a well-organized book, nor one that offers a deep understanding, but I think it offers a preliminary look at the way Internet-based relationships fuel a new business model, and I found it enjoyable simply because it is speculative and makes you think!


A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America
by Ronald Takaki

Book Review by Richard L. Weaver II, Ph.D.

This is an absolutely fascinating, well-written, extremely well-documented book that is revised from the 1993 edition. If you are interested in multi-culturalism, you must read Takaki’s book. When I say “well-documented,” there are 71 pages of notes in this 529-page book. The index itself is 10 pages long. Takaki covers the cultural perspectives of the Irish, Japanese, blacks, Native Americans, and others as various times throughout American history, and what is great about the book is that he puts you, the reader, right into the mindset of the people he is discussing so you come away with some of the insights, feelings, and reactions of various people. This is a credible, believable, and educational work that makes an important and significant contribution to multicultural literature. The book is not a complete history, but what Takaki does is focus in-depth on a variety of events and issues that reveal the cultural perspective he is discussing. There are some people who may be offended by what Takaki writes, especially when he details some of the horrendous crimes the majority whites committed against minority races — especially people who have read and believed what is written in many mainline required textbooks. Nicole, from Oxford, Ohio, explained this in her review of the book: “One thing I have to teach my conservative, mid-Western students is to move beyond the ‘white guilt’ many Americans seem to suffer from in order to see that the oppression minorities were victim to was a systematic process based on totalitarian ideals, and not some inherent white evil. I believe by presenting the information the way Takaki has, he allows readers to read a multifaceted version of American history (not the myopic, one dimensional history taught in American schools) that effectively places different groups within a specific time and place in history. If you are not afraid to read some truth about America (without the artificiality of ‘Pomp and Circumstance’), this is for you.” If you like American history, you will love this book.

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Through our reading, researching, and writing, And Then Some Publishing (and our extended family of readers) mine volumes of books representing a wide variety of tastes. We use the books in our writing, test and try suggested techniques, and we read for enjoyment as well. We wouldn't spend the time reviewing the books if we didn't get something out of it. Read more reviews on other fantastic books at our BookWorksRules.com website.