Rating: 
Summary: Good not great.
Review: This book was insightful at times and over the top often. The book gives a good look at changes that need to take place at the heart of every business and why this is the case. The Internet is for communication. As this book gets older some of the things they observed early are coming true, while others are not. A good read, but slow and repetitive at times.
Rating: 
Summary: Worth both the Time and Money
Review: Very good book. It had my attention the whole way through it. It offers a unique perspective of what the Internet has done to change the landscape of 'traditional' business. Their words need to be heard by those running today's businesses, agree (with them) or not. I happen to agree with much of what they say.
Rating: 
Summary: The Cluetrain Manifesto
Review: If I had seen this book in a bookstore, I would not have bought it, because it is printed in a too small, hard to read font. Besides that, the book is verbose and a waste of money.
Rating:
Summary: Like, duh.
Review: I originally bought this book thinking that it might contain some useful business information. Surprise! It doesn't! Cluetrain Manifesto is nothing more than the ramblings of a number of self-appointed dot-com smart guys who have little or no experience in the real world of profit and loss. As the recent and ongoing dot-com implosion so aptly demonstrates, this balloon -- and this book -- is filled with nothing more than hot air.Don't bother.
Rating:
Summary: Finally .... Intelligence in Business!
Review: I was extremely pleased to read this book because it was a validation of everything I tried to communicate to my former mindless employers. But for me, this book was too late. Otherwise I could have boldly pushed this book in their 'executive' faces. I know all too well the closed-mindedness, backwards-ness, reductionism, and secretiveness of the corporate business man and their complete ignorance of what the Internet means for business. I think I will send them each a copy of this book for x-mas.
Rating:
Summary: Multiple Viewpoints, Same Story- Conversations!
Review: Aimed at anyone with an interest in contemporary and future wired business, 'The Cluetrain Manifesto' focuses on re-engaging people in conversational interactions with business (rather than being segmented 'over-the-wall' after approval by teams of lawyers!). The excessively repetitive, rambling, example-light chapters span: the manifesto itself of 95 theses; Internet Apocalypso (some history- errors about AI (60s not 80s); Taylorism mentioned but not balancing human-centric ergonomic approaches (mostly 60s onwards); and us vs them factory distrust not just 1920s Ford, but 1800s UK factories acts (& before with Luddites/ Mills etc..) ); The Longing; Talk is Cheap (newsgroups); Markets Are Conversations (great quotes "consumer... a gullet.. gulps products and craps cash"; and meaningless technolatin veterinarian describing dog as "a platform for sniffing, ... an open environment for fleas, and .. supports barking" ); the hyperlinked organization (mismatch company to staff through: communications, org chart, work management, career path, information, goal-oriented, deadlines, customers, office building and professional status); EZ Answers (list for e-success: relax, have sense of humor, find your voice and use it, tell the truth, don't panic, enjoy yourself, be brave, be curious, play more, ream always, listen up, and rap on); and Post Apocalypso. Strengths include: the enthusiasm of tone, and extremely timely human-centric anti-impersonal business practices message- it's all about unscripted market and human conversations. Weaknesses include: the extreme repetition; errors in contemporary & historical technologies/business anecdotes; conflicts between contributions (Web is all about sales in one part, not at all elsewhere); and a lack of side-bar success stories & detailed evidence. It would have been interesting (to this reviewer) for a formal "debate" framing of the message with contributions from process-oriented major consulting firms, and community interjections & involvement. Overall, 'Cluetrain' is a worthy but lightweight book. Similar books include: Siegels' glossy e-brainstorm "Futurize Your Enterprize" (ISBN 0471357634); Jensen's human-centric 'Simplicity' (ISBN 073820210X); and Bloor's transaction-focused generalist 'electronic B@zaar' (ISBN 185788258X).
Rating:
Summary: wonderful message, excessively long
Review: The main two points of this book are these: #1: Any business is for, by, and of people. #2: The internet re-empowers individuals to take advantage of #1. The message of this work is awesome and right on. Unfortunately, the book is about 8 times as long as it needs to be. Created as a series of essays by four authors and pundits, this book gets irritatingly repetitive by halfway through. You'll wonder, "How many different ways can these guys think of to say the same thing?" The original 95 theses from their www.cluetrain.com website is too little to get the whole message, but 183 pages is too much. This would have been perfect as a 20 page article. If you buy this book, read the first chapter. If you "get it", then skip right to the last chapter.
Rating:
Summary: Finally, conversation!!!
Review: Good book. Get a clue. Better yet, find out who else has a clue.
Rating:
Summary: Very insightful, but very repetetive....
Review: This book discusses some of the fundamental foundations of business and how the Internet has once again returned us to these foundations. It is very anti-establishment. I enjoyed the insights. They definitely got me thinking. But the text was very, very repetitive in driving home its points. But the text was very, very repetitive in driving home its points. I found myself skipping pages because I had already read the same thing in the last chapter. I would not recommend this book to my friends or colleagues, but I would gladly discuss what the book is about with them. It is quite interesting.
Rating:
Summary: Come, join the conversation!
Review: The web opens up new avenues of communication. Information spreads freely and rapidly, whether we like it or not. The time has come to embrace rather than fight this phenomenon. It is undoubtedly an uncomfortable situation for many, used to having complete control over corporate information through traditional one way marketing communication messages. The Cluetrain, presents the idea that a marketplace is becoming a conversation. To stay alive and thrive in the new marketplace, companies must actively engage customers in meaningful, honest conversation. Employees must be empowered to participate in the new marketplace, to talk to people frankly and honestly, to build relationships with real people. The rate of change is over estimated in the short term, and under estimated in the long. It'll be a while till we see if the Manifesto plays out, and to what extent. Companies will still utilize the traditional carpet bombing methods of marketing, advertising, and public relations for sometime to come. Companies and the people behind them will eventually realize snazzy new CRM software is simply for automation and not relationship building. Fundamentally, the web is a new medium to communicate, for people to communicate, one to one. Those that realize and embrace this will reap the rewards of the "new economy" The Cluetrain is bold, it talks about massive change in the way business is conducted, and puts forth numerous examples illustrating this change. It's a real book about real happeneings, authored by real people, not clueless consultants selling their marketing verbiage. Read the Cluetrain for a fresh perspective about the beginnings of the evolving marketplace, and join in the conversation!
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