Web Thinking: Connecting, Not Competing, for Success

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Summary: Working with the Web
Review: As a Consultant and Lecturer on Group Dynamics I find in Dr. Seger's book a helpful simplification of those sometimes abstruse principles of how human consciousness works. The clarity of her explanations of various states of mind and how to affect transitions between them will be valuable metaphors in my work, particularly for audiences not schooled in more esoteric thought.

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Summary: Move Over, Al Gore!
Review: From the tone of Dr. Seger's book on web-thinking, one comes away with the humorous impression that she believes she personally invented the entire concept of networking. What could have been a helpful text is written instead as a look-at-everything-I've-done account that falls short of enlightening or inspiring women professionals who are serious about making the right connections in the film industry or anywhere else. Much of this, unfortunately, is due to a voice that borders on condescension and implies her readers wouldn't recognize common sense if it jumped up and bit them. This was a disappointment in light of her prior releases regarding women in the movie biz. By comparison, there are just better business-oriented resources available out there if networking is something that readers want to hone in order to advance in their professions. It is also essentially a rehash of some of her earlier books which were more persuasive and practical in their focus. I came away from this one wondering what the point of all of it was.

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Summary: A Great Book for Writers!
Review: Writing is a solitary profession. Most of us dream of a Hollywood career in which we crank out brilliant, million-dollar scripts that we turn over to 'our people,' who orchestrate bidding wars and then hand us enormous checks over lunches at swanky restaurants.

Unfortunately, that rarely happens. Instead, emerging screenwriters discover that laboring over the written word was the easy part of the process when compared with the daunting prospect of having to knock on doors in an industry where welcome mats are few and far between.

Web Thinking points out the value of ' the need for ' learning to network; creating a synergy that allows people to 'create something larger than any of us could do alone.'

'The Web,' Seger writes, 'is about connections ' the close connections leading to intimacy and community, and the far-reaching connections linking us globally.' Not the World Wide Web. (Although there are certainly 'connections' to be made there; mostly in chat rooms populated by people lookin' for love in all the wrong places. But that's another story.)

Seger's research did, however, bring her in contact with Tim Berners-Lee, creator of the World Wide Web. He explained that the 'web' concept was taken from math, and described his vision of the web as 'anything being potentially connected with anything.'

Web thinking, Seger explains, begins by recognizing our connections and knowing separation is not how life works. Web relationships involve giving and receiving; 'exchanging movement, energy, support and ideas,' she elaborates.

By taking an in-depth look at different ways of thinking and the benefits and consequences of each, Seger has provided a guidebook for change ' not just for writers, but anyone willing to take a voyage of self-discovery. Seger reveals the details of several voyages of her own, and includes liberal discussion of the spiritual side of life, from her own membership in the Society of Friends (Quakers) to the creation of a 'spiritual web.'

So, why should writers bother with this book?

'Think, for a moment, about the direction of your life for the last ten, twenty, or even fifty years,' Seger encourages. ''Perhaps you keep taking the same dead-end jobs, and your career never seems to move. Maybe difficult situations in your home life remain the same, but you don't know what, or how, to change.'

Web Thinking presents an intriguing possibility: maybe it's the result of your way of thinking. And that is something that can be changed ' with self-examination and effort.

'Moving forward takes energy and hope,' Seger says. 'If we don't have it, we just stay where it's comfortable, or at least less threatening.'