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Summary: Advance Praise for The Age of Access
Review: "Jeremy Rifkin has the rare ability to look over the horizon and see the future that's bearing down on us. His vision of corporate capitalism dematerializing into webs of access and networks of 'virtual' power is startling and compelling -- another warning bell for democracy and human society, as prescient and alarming as Rifkin's previous books." -- William Greider, author of One World Ready or Not "Jeremy Rifkin identifies several of the most powerful 'beneath the surface' change-forces impacting business, society, and even individual identity -- especially those forces unleashed by the power of the Internet and e-commerce. He raises provocative questions about a not-too-distant future when traditional relationships among people, property, and knowledge are radically altered, all ruled by a very different commercial worldview. Worthwhile reading for anyone interested in seeing where we're all going and what new opportunities may be captured by the nimble." -- Professor Thomas Gerrity, Director, Wharton e-Commerce Forum "How do we get a better grip on ourselves, the changing nature of commerce, and the culture we will all inhabit in cyberspace? We start by reading Jeremy Rifkin's The Age of Access. -- Norman Lear
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Summary: Age of Access-lame
Review: Age of Access Page 248 "...The Gypsy Kings, Puerto Rico's Ricky Martin, Pakistan's Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Ravi Shankar...and scores of others are routinely turning out popular CD's with their eclectic blend of native and contemporary music...".Ricky Martin?! an eclectic blend of native and contemporary music?! This guy clearly has no problem writing things he doesn't understand. A world-pop corporate marketing phenomenon like Ricky Martin would be comparable to a Madonna or a George Michael, but you could never claim his music sounds ANYTHING like native Puerto Rican music (bomba, plena, etc.) . Oh, and by the way, Mr. Rifkin, Britney Spears is not an ethnomusicologist specializing in blending Appalachian folk tunes with modern pop.
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Summary: you have to read this book now
Review: Definitely. Rifkin put his finger on it. Or the multiple its that make up life today. Yup, a lot of the disconnected noise of life has strong background patterning. Massive corporate consolidation has turned culture into so much balogna, to be sliced off and piled on your plate in uniform, homogeneous portions, as long as you keep forking over the moolah. No pay, no play. Rifkin dilates on the long term consequences of life as the perectly made franchise outlet meatball. Otherwise perfectly nice people become, eh, Protean. Protean ? Did he mean Cyborgs, perchance? Logic gives way to impressionistic, fashion'n'fad driven consumerism of the most banal sort. Public spaces now feature mental airlocks that keep out the most determined non-rent-paying zealots and petition waving blue faced did-not-get-with-the-program types. And the people love it! Oh, you have an opinion, do you ? Isn't that charming ! Well, fugedabowdit. Nobody has an opinion any more. Not allowed. Against policy, ya see. Why don't you go buy yourself a trinket. Like I said, you have to read this book.
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Summary: PAYING FOR LIVING
Review: How are we going to cope with the Internet era and the new cultural capitalism? At the beginning of the third millennium, the impact of new technologies is radically changing the structure of society and our very way of life. This highly debatable new book by Rifkin delineates the scenarios of the near future, where ideas and knowledge are the main generators of wealth, where for the first time in modern history owning chattels is considered a limitation to the capacity of adapting to change and any goods, services or actual knowledge must be purchased or hired. Here Rifkin explains why property will be replaced by "access on payment", why we will pay more and own less, why the gap between those connected to the "network" and those who aren't will always be wider, and why the economic giants possessing the keys to the "access" (it's just like the Force!) are destined to control the life of everyone. This work surely will become one of the most polemical issues of this year, with all its exploration of hyper-capitalism, the bottom question being: will it be possible to have a positive approach and achieve a positive dissemination of knowledge, comfort, and democracy via the "access to life"? And will there be any Jedis?
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Summary: Good and Valuable Book
Review: I liked the book very interesting description of the times we are living in. Helps understand the economic tendencies that are actually occurring around us. I enjoy reading it!
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Summary: Re-thinking Ri-fkin
Review: I've bought this book 'cause I heard a lot of good opinions, considerations about J.Rifkin but never read one of his books. So....I'm sorry but it was been a sort of delusion! Nothing new, just simple considerations about everyday life...everybody can get the same ideas and stimulations reading newspapers...in short a try to describe the new anthropological scenario,but since last years I've personally understood (also in my job) that things are going in the way he explains...so, for me it was not necessary to take 400 pages to say obvious things! Celebrity it's not enough to get 5 stars!
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Summary: "Something Just Doesn't Feel Right," a human said to another
Review: If the 1970s was the Gamesman Era then the 2000s must be the Access Era. Thus Jeremy Rifkin's "The New Culture of Hypercapitalism, Where All of Life Is a Paid-For Experience" dares challenge the something-for-nothing global elites who plan to profit from selling us access to our own air and airwaves, our water and natural resources, and finally our own genes. The "The Age of Access" details the systematic take over of planet earth by a well organized and powerful group that makes the classical 18th monarchs look like bleeding heart democratic progressives. For those who have a growing sense of "Something Just Doesn't Feel Right," read Rifkin's well referenced thesis on "hypercapitalism" wherein property is increasingly replaced by access to services; so that living is reduced to access to services ... or not!
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Summary: Eye opening but not helpful for managers
Review: In the Age of Access, Jeremy Rifkin claims that the fundamental way that organizations and individuals conduct business is changing dramatically. The change is a shift from ownership of assets to the payment for the right to access the assets of others. Rifkin calls this state of existence the "hypercapitalistic economy." In this type of economy everything is service-based where "just-in-time" access is standard and achieved through expansive commercial networks residing in cyberspace. All managers could learn about the upcoming Age of Access from Rifkin's book. It is imperative for managers to understand the impact that the Age of Access will have on their businesses and their lives. Unfortunately, Rifkin does not indicate how to use this information to achieve success and take advantage of the dramatic changes that are occurring in our world. For this reason, I do not recommend The Age of Access to managers looking for answers to their questions but I do recommend The Age of Access for those who are ignorant of the "new culture of hypercapitalism" and need the to understand where the world is going so they can create their own game plan.
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Summary: Access this book as soon as you can
Review: Indeed an outstanding analysis of capitalist transitions. Very infomred study of how the mode of reproduction in capitalist society is redefining itself and who the agents of change are.
A must read for all students of politcal and social sciences; a strong recommednation for everyone who wants to step back and reflect on where we are heading and how things got rolling. The only short-coming I see, is that Rifkin strangely avoids building on marxist thought, hardly any references and it seems he tried to "skip" Marxism in an effort to stay popular amongst a largely US readership. Still, a most important book, any current day social researcher and political analyst should make this book a key reference point.
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Summary: Mr. Rifkin..It all adds up to...Dystopia...?
Review: J. Rifkin presents a compelling scenario to his already formidable body of arguments, predictions, theories. "The Age Of Access.." has more than the whiff of the truth. (Does hyper-inflation come with hyper-capitalism or will we have to--would we be able to tweak the economy in our favor?) Compare this and Rifkin's "The End of Work" with "Why the Future Doesn't Need Us" by Bill Joy in the April 2000 "Wired" 'zine. Rifkin has always been a thought-provoking favorite of mine since his books "Entropy: A New World Order" and "Algeny" in the 80's. I hope that the folks will not only read this and "The End Of Work" but some of his earlier works...a great sage--I believe it was Albert the Alligator's ol' pal, Pogo Possom-- once said, "We have met the enemy and he is us" (or something like that). I'd like to know are "us" really getting any more advanced as a world culture or is it the same thing--rich getting richer, poor getting shafted--done at the speed of light...?
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