Rating: 
Summary: And now for something completely different...
Review: This is about as far away from a traditonal business book as you can get. The Cluetrain Manifesto is about the end of business as usual and the role of the Internet as the empowerer to the masses. It whitewashes the world that traditional marketing and advertising paint. The authors clearly present a simple choice to businessmen. Ride the Cluetrain, understand that markets are conversations, and that customers and workers will have these conversations whether you like it or not, or lose your business. The book is written in an anecdotal fashion and as such some of it should be taken with a pinch of salt. An interesting and provocative read - not for the faint hearted or unimaginative.
Rating: 
Summary: The feel-good business book of the year
Review: It's true that the authors of The Cluetrain Manifesto aren't saying anything new to those who've believed in the power of the Internet from the first time they launched a web browser or read a newsgroup. But they've enumerated those beliefs in a very compelling and awe-inspiring volume of the truths of operating in the Internet Economy. Namely that doing business in this world means opening up your organization to the scrutiny of your customers and every member of your organization; that markets are conversations and those who can best facilitate communication will triumph; that information yearns to be free. If you're looking for a how-to book or a silver bullet to reinvigorate your business, look elsewhere. But if you believe in the power of technology to connect you to your customers, or desperately want to believe, get on board the Cluetrain.
Rating:
Summary: Get it. Read it.
Review: Want to learn something about the future of business? This book has some clues. Good clues. Get this book. Read it. Think about the clues. Act on the clues. My bet is that you'll make more money than you would have otherwise. And you'll have more fun doing it, too.
Rating: 
Summary: A clue too much
Review: Chapter 1 which I read at cluetrain was incisive, thought-provoking and entertaining. I bought the book on the strength of it. Trouble is the tedious repetition of the rest of the book. For me, Locke's writing is top class, that of the others, fairly pedestrian.
Rating:
Summary: "Consumers" Strike Back
Review: If you're looking for a potted history of marketing or an essay about how the Internet is coming of age, please don't think you'll get the answers in this book. However, if you're in business now or thinking of starting up perhaps you should read this. Don't expect a ten-point plan on how to gain market superiority via the Internet or instructions on how to put your customers in a loyalty box they won't be able to escape from, but it may just help if you want to still *be* in business in the next few years.As a senior manager of IT & statistical services in the public sector for over ten years I find that Locke et al make me ashamed for all the times I didn't tell suppliers that I would no longer accept their crap. I hope some of those suppliers are reading this book and taking heed because I'm sharing my copy with my colleagues and together we represent a not-too-shabby purchasing power... I hope the message is clear; get a clue!
Rating: 
Summary: Main idea? Sell goodwill instead of product
Review: Talk to your customer, ask him what he likes, learn what he thinks of your product, do whatever he tells you, do whatever he tells you, do whatever he tells you. Repeat for 224 pages. The authors forget that a business and its customers are competitors. One wants to minimize what is delivered for a dollar, the other wants to maximize it. Cluetrain in one line? Spend your entire day on service and support, it's not about what's delivered, it's about what people think of you, let your customers wander the factory floor. "Make everyone happy-happy, okie-dokie?" The one nugget I took away: create forums (i.e. newsgroups on web) to allow customers to talk to one another; any impact on "corporate image" will be repaid by discovering problems while your customers are still yours.
Rating:
Summary: Long time reader...first time reviewer
Review: When I read this book, I was so engrossed in that I forgot to watch daytime TV. (home office ya' know) That very same day, the boss called me and asked what I was up to and I said just thinking about how markets are actually conversations and that we need to genuinely engage our customers. Next thing I knew, I was a VP. Got piles of pre-IPO options. Went public. Sold options. Watch daytime TV whenever I want now. Do some consulting... Four thumbs up!
Rating:
Summary: six and a half stars
Review: Enlightening, much as a treatise on quantum cosmology would be to Neanderthals, forget your buzzwords and techno-driveling, if you want to make waves just don't forget your shovel. The Cluetrain Manifesto, keener than mustard (exceedingly boring cover though).
Rating:
Summary: Mixed messages, mixed media
Review: Please buy this book to support these writers. In fact, buy anything these guys have for sale. Attitudes like theirs are desperately hard to come by -- and they've all paid serious dues to get to the point where they could pen these opinions. They need our support. And, most importantly, pay particularly close attention to what they're doing online, because they are pretty fair bellweathers, from what I've been able to observe. What they're doing now will most likely be most common as this media unfolds. I, for one, am encouraged about the future, given voices such as these.
Rating: 
Summary: same as it ever was
Review: One of my employees bought some copies of this book for his department and I was pretty excited to read it, I'd heard about it a lot from him when it was a webpage. I finally got around to reading it, and sorry, it really wasn't that hot. A lot of rhetoric that sounds great, and it may make a lot of managers happier to read this and think they're suddenly savvy 21st century marketers, but I think all in all maybe you should just get the less pretentious Tony Robbins book that this so desperately wants to be. That's the category this book fills for me: Books people read to feel smart, that don't really have insights that are as great as they think they are. After all, if this book really was revolutionary, would it really be selling to the very businesspeople it aims to educate as much as it is?
| 
