Rating: 
Summary: The Emporer's New Clues
Review: What makes a brilliant web page does not make a brilliant book. The authors are right about certain things: networked markets learn fast. Buzzwords prevent actual communication. But... the book is a big sloppy mess. The authors unfortunately are clueless about the history of business, of economics, or about how most people actually live. The book is long rant, repeating the same thoughts over and over, but terribly short on substance. The only example of the power of their new way of thinking is a story about how United made some people on a newsgroup like them. That's about it, folks. The biggest problem is the idea that before the web, we were all big slugs absorbing info from the TV, and since the web, we are all zooming around reading newsgroups and talking to people about every purchase we make. I wish the authors had spent more time talking to actual everyday people, instead of their fellow hardcore webheads. A bit of perspective would have helped them a lot. Their take on industrialization is also pretty silly. A little time spent reading about the history of business would have helped them a lot. The last section of the book goes totally off the deep end, offering the bombing of Dresden and Hiroshima as examples of why they're right. Whatever, guys. It can be fun to read (and some of the contributors are a whole lot smarter than others) but ultimately, there's nothing there. The ideas are appealing, you *want* to believe the whole thing, but when you start noticing the really bad assumptions the authors have made, the lack of concrete examples of anything, the incredibly repetition, you just can't. And it's a shame, because there are some really provocative ideas here that shouldn't be dismissed, however badly the authors have presented them. Read the web site and think about what it says; don't waste your time and money on the book.
Rating: 
Summary: A Breath of Fresh Air
Review: At the outset I must confess to being a devotee of Mr Locke for a number of years. My reason is that with a vital and growing Net (and all parts therein) there are the plodders who can't understand its concept. Therefore to protect their image (and keep their clients) they try box it into compartments they're comfortable with. It is easier to do this than to start thinking outside the square. Mr Locke and his cabal break through the monotony we see everyday online. Take the time to read it once, look at your favourite client's site afterwards, change it and read the book once more. You'll be impressed with the outcomes. I've purchased a number of copies for our internal use and for our investment bankers. Money well spent.
Rating: 
Summary: When do the workshops begin?
Review: Yes, it's wonderful; Yes, it's true. The best thing about this book for me was that it vindicates things I have been saying and feeling for years, and feeling unheard and discounted at best, and ridiculed at worst. Moreover, it says them in an accessible way (for most) with humor and insight. Now you guys have to get out on the road and get those who don't read books into workshop mode so they hear it, too! And let me know when you're ready to do the higher education version, where they're REALLY behind the times.
Rating:
Summary: Time to get one...
Review: ...a clue, that is. Truly something that should have been written a long time ago, and about something that we've all been dying to say something about...the decline of marketing. For those who thought it was a primer for networking, keep in mind that there are still A LOT of management out there who are clueless about the possibilities of e-mail, chat, etc., and would not know where to start on how to leverage these technologies.
Rating:
Summary: Throw away your business plan...
Review: Throw away your business plan and your mission statement and start listing to the market who are the people that work for you. This book has left me both afraid and exhilarated. Afraid that I haven't been listening enough, and yet encouraged to laugh at myself and keep moving to more understanding. If you want to know what people who "get it" are thinking about the Net, this is the book. A must read for anyone who is arrogant enough to lead a company by following the people who work for you. They are the future.
Rating:
Summary: You are aboard
Review: These guys write like you wish you talked. Witty, succinct, original,and "it's what's happening today". This is not yesterdays news nor your father's olds. This is part of the "post modern era" here and now. The modern era has come and gone and this book chronicles a part of what makes the post modern era. Your are aboard whether you know it or not.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant, witty, outrageous, dead-on accurate!
Review: As a partner in a marketing firm, the Manifesto has crystallized for me how the Internet is revolutionizing the entire communications world. The facades are coming down. Let's talk directly to each other, and have fun doing it! I love it. Over the years, I have experienced frustration with many clients' ponderous, slow moving corporate infrastructures (Old Economy) that just can't seem to get out of their own way. And then there are the ad agencies I used to work for... don't get me started! We have jumped across the chasm, into the New Economy's brave frontier. Complete exhilaration! Thanks.
Rating:
Summary: A book tat will last
Review: Long after many business books are landfill, The Cluetrain Manifesto will still be read. Why? Because the wisdom it dispenses apply not only to our own time and place. The authors hurl criticisms valid and not so valid at the current state of the affairs, but the criticisms will apply just as accurately to whatever replaces the Internet and the virtual enterprise. This book could have been self-righteous. Instead, it is righteous. There's a lot to learn and a lot to forget. I keep this book close by and refer to it from time to time to calibrate my humanity.
Rating:
Summary: Best business book of the year
Review: This book is the bomb. It's a page-turner because every page has something on it that resonates with the reader, truths they will recognize in their own company. I used to think business was boring and that meaning in life was to be found off the job, but this book changed my mind.
Rating:
Summary: Too much hype in the forward but still a great book!
Review: The Cluetrain Manifesto may not live up to its forward, written by Thomas Petzinger, Jr. of the Wall Street Journal. "Recall what The Jungle did to meat packing, what Silent Spring did to chemicals, what Unsafe at Any Speed did to Detroit. That's the spirit with which The Cluetrain Manifesto takes on the arrogance of corporate e-commerce." E-commerce is a baby that's just begun to babble, as far as I'm concerned, and isn't mature enough to get knocked down from a position of arrogance... But then I'm no web expert and the author's of this book seem to have those credentials. While the book focuses on the web's ability to facilitate dialogue and talking storey, contrary to their great expectations, I think the web will represent "TV with a buy button," for millions of sorry souls. However, I can see that in the world of corporate governance, the internet is making a huge difference by empowering shareholders. Maybe the Cluetrain authors aren't exaggerating in the long run. The book is great for one liners. "Word of mouth has gone global." "The community of discourse is the market." Markets...want to participate in the conversations going on behind the corporate firewalls," and corporations that let them are likely to benefit. There's also the Cluetrain Corollary to Metcalfe's Law. "The level of knowledge on a network increases as the square of the number of users times the volume of conversation." So in my field, as Corporate Governance NETwork grows, it becomes easier to learn the truth about corporate governance around the world and at individual firms. Like Linux, nobody is managing or controlling it, but many voices are contributing. All those "best practices" are helping firms discover, rather than invent, their own identity when used properly. Here's another line from Cluetrain, "controlling information is like trying to control a conversation: it can't be done and still be genuine." "The questions we ask aren't going to predict the future. They will create the future." So far, what we hear most on the internet is positioning by those who want to be our saviors. "The questions themselves are intended to confuse the issue, and the answers are nothing but the smirk on the face of someone who just proved himself right."
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