Rating: 
Summary: A good book for someone with little knowledge of technology
Review: I read this book for a graduate class and was very displeased. There is a lot of useful information but it just seems like it's a little trivial for graduate studies. Most of the things in the book are common sense and the author goes on and on discussing them. I would recommend this book to a high school technology class or maybe a basic college course in technology, but definitely not for graduate studies. Castells is very knowledgeable but can become very cumbersome in his writing.
Rating: 
Summary: Sarah Abbott
Review: I thought that this book was very repetitous. Castells is very opinionated and has strong feelings about the internet and especially the people involved with it.
He did cover the history of the internet very well and had a lot of detailed facts. He also covered the social groupings of internet users well. He tended to repeat himself and I thought he was one sided in some of his points. It could be easy to get lost in his biased opinions and not to pay close attention to what he was trying to say.
Overall, I thought this book was alright. It was not a very interesting attention grabber book however.
Rating:
Summary: Average
Review: I would recommend the Internet Galaxy to a person who is conducting or going to conduct a research about the Internet because the author provides tons of information in depth which could be a good background for that person. This could be a huge source of reference as well. Some chapter is interesting such as the Culture of the Internet that let us know more about the characteristic of network society (some context you can just skip it). Some chapter is up to date and it may refer to the current issue such as Digital Divide or is the Internet the end of privacy? You may find an answer here. Some chapter is too redundant and not necessary to know for some students. For someone who is really interested in what the Internet impacts us, this book could raise some points for you to further think or question about. However, if you just want to know superficially what the Internet is or what it is used nowadays I suggest to find another easy-reading Internet dummy book.
Rating: 
Summary: A brilliant analysis
Review: It is part of the conventional wisdom that the Internet affects all of our lives, is a key element in development of the 'new economy', and is becoming a major factor in political development. At the same time, how the Internet interacts with other influences and what social and technological trends are going on under the surface is not well understood. It is, however, so central to the development of our economy and society that it is essential to understand it.Manuel Castells has produced a brilliant analysis of these issues. The book is written for both an academic and a general readership and meets the needs of both excellently, although some parts of it are reasonably hard work for the generalist. The reward, at least for this reader, is a far clearer understanding of the dynamics of development of our networked society and the issues that need to be confronted. It is essential reading for anyone concerned with economic or political development at any level from local community to global issues. In style the book belongs to what I think of as the European tradition of clear and careful analysis and exposition, rather than the common American approach to business books of heavy reliance on drawing conclusions from examples derived from 'great name' companies. The result is a book that requires serious concentration in order to follow the complex, sometimes contradictory and paradoxical influences that the author elucidates for us. It is directed primarily to the reader as citizen, rather than specifically aiming to help business people toward profitable application of Internet technology. In consequence, as well as providing a valuable overview of the dynamics of development of our national and global economy and society, it contains useful reflections on ethics and governance at the business level and also on the potential benefits and risks to the development of civil society nationally and internationally. The author's starting point is that (the dot points following are slightly modified quotations excerpted from the 'Opening' to the book):
* The technology of the Internet provides the means of bringing together reliance on networks, dominant in private interaction, with the capacity for coordination of tasks and management of complexity, for which organizations have historically relied on hierarchical command and control.
* The logic, language and constraints of the Internet are not well understood beyond technological matters. Popular understanding is driven by myth, ideology and gossip more than by a realistic assessment of the issues.
* People, institutions, companies and society at large, transform technology by modifying and experimenting with it. The Internet transforms the way we communicate and do things and, by doing many things with the Internet, we transform the Internet itself.
* It follows that the Internet is a particularly malleable technology, susceptible of being deeply modified by its social practice, and leading to a whole range of potential social outcomes - to be discovered by experience, not proclaimed beforehand. Neither utopia nor dystopia, the Internet is the expression of ourselves - through a specific code of communication, which we must understand if we want to change our reality. The first two chapters offer lessons from the history of the Internet and a description of the culture that gave rise to, and sustains it. Chapters 3 through 6 discuss e-business, the new economy, the concepts of virtual communities and networked society and key political issues of civil society, privacy and liberty. Chapter 7 is concerned with multimedia, while Chapters 8 and 9 are concerned with the geography of the Internet and the digital divide. There is an 8 page conclusion on the challenges of the network society, in which the mask of the analyst slips somewhat to reveal the passionate advocate of what Soros in The Crisis of Global Capitalism called the open society and to echo Laszlo's call in Macroshift for a 'fundamental revolution of consciousness'. Castells argues: "Until we rebuild, both from the bottom up and from the top down, our institutions of governance and democracy, we will not be able to stand up to the fundamental challenges we are facing. And if democratic, political institutions cannot do it, no one else will or can."
Rating: 
Summary: A good introductory literature
Review: Manuel Castells is, with no doubt, the leading figure in the sociology of information. That field has been the fastest rising area in the sociology. It deals with the interaction between IT, the economy, and society.
Manuel Castells secured his position with the book, ¡®The Information City¡¯ (1989). This book grounded the theoretical framework. His three volumes of ¡®Information Age¡¯ have been widely used as the textbook in the class. Those volumes have the rich depth and are well written, conclusive on each issue. But that trilogy is voluminous: about 1500 pages in total. If you prefer short but graphic, succinct introduction to the sociology of information, this is your pick. This book is based on the author¡¯s lecture held at Oxford Business School. So it¡¯s not conceived to be the systematic work but intended to orient the reader toward the basics of the field. He uses various live cases to illustrate the interaction between Internet, the economy, and society. The areas covered range from culture, new economy, virtual community, social movement, privacy, multimedia, and digital divide. Those are almost all topics tackled in the field. But this is not intended to set up serious theoretical basis in the field. If you are interested in such an attempt, I recommend James Slevin¡¯s ¡®The Internet and Society¡¯. But, as I mentioned in the review on that book, it requires the reader some basic understanding Giddens and other social theories, to get the nub of the book.
Rating:
Summary: pretext to a brave post ford world?
Review: Manuel Castells' book "The Internet Galaxy" provides and interesting perspective and background on the emerging technologies and social evolution of the internet. Castells often reinforces the categorizations and general perspectives of various cultures breaded by the net. The way the cultures were described perhaps would have been more meaningful to a person studying psychology or sociology. Regardless, Castells did lay an interesting foundation for the creation of today's internet. Throughout the book Castells makes interesting presumptions about the future, particularly those based on increasing gap between the haves and have-nots. I often found myself lost in difficult to read, but none the less amusing theories which encouraged me to views a different perspective. The book encouraged me to forget that the internet isn't yet the lifeblood of modern civilization or economic prosperity. I still believe the internet is just past the sages of the model T. The net is quickly becoming a tool, like a car, to many individuals, but isn't yet a necessity to society as a whole. Like people without cars, people without the net will still prosper with their natural, noncomputer based, abilities and talents, even though they may have to walk to work. The internet is a revolution moving at megabytes per second, but is changing the entire global environment with a mere 28 k modem. Castells' book isn't a light read, but what you can make it tough it is very interesting.
Rating:
Summary: pretext to a brave post ford world?
Review: Manuel Castells' book "The Internet Galaxy" provides and interesting perspective and background on the emerging technologies and social evolution of the internet. Castells often reinforces the categorizations and general perspectives of various cultures breaded by the net. The way the cultures were described perhaps would have been more meaningful to a person studying psychology or sociology. Regardless, Castells did lay an interesting foundation for the creation of today's internet. Throughout the book Castells makes interesting presumptions about the future, particularly those based on increasing gap between the haves and have-nots. I often found myself lost in difficult to read, but none the less amusing theories which encouraged me to views a different perspective. The book encouraged me to forget that the internet isn't yet the lifeblood of modern civilization or economic prosperity. I still believe the internet is just past the sages of the model T. The net is quickly becoming a tool, like a car, to many individuals, but isn't yet a necessity to society as a whole. Like people without cars, people without the net will still prosper with their natural, noncomputer based, abilities and talents, even though they may have to walk to work. The internet is a revolution moving at megabytes per second, but is changing the entire global environment with a mere 28 k modem. Castells' book isn't a light read, but what you can make it tough it is very interesting.
Rating:
Summary: Internet Galaxy
Review: Much of what Manuel Castells addressed in his book, The Internet Galaxy, represents a new breakthrough idea that the Internet plays an important role in our society. Basically, this should be a technology issue that most readers are familiar with, but he can use his knowledge including with his incredible talent to generate the linkage between the technological basis and social, philosophical perspective. There is a lot of useful information combined together in each chapter through this book. If any interested readers are ready to develop their views and mindsets with the analyzed understandings of the influence of the Internet, I believe that this book should be considered to be another valuable asset for them to keep.
Rating:
Summary: Internet Galaxy Book Review
Review: My overall impression was that Manuel Castells did an average job of explaining the role that the Internet plays in todays society. Many of the concepts that he discussed did have academic value, but some of the points that he tried to make had a strong philosophical twist to them. This approach leaves the reader lost at certain places throughout the text. In aggregate, the book makes some interesting conversation about the history of the Internet, and how it has evolved to become an integral part of business and society. At a high level, I can agree with many of those concepts presented. Once the author interjects his philosophies, I tuned out. I found it particularly interesting to read about some of the history of the Internet and compare it what we use today. I feel as though I have a better understanding about where it is we came from, but would not recommend this book for someone looking for answers as to where we are heading. I would, however, recommend the book for a college level philosophy class. I think that it would make for interesting discussion groups.
Rating:
Summary: really bad sociology
Review: My understanding is that this book is an accessible summary of the ideas Catsells presents in his three volume magnum opus, the Information Age (which starts with the Network Society). If this is so, I am definitely not missing much by not having read the trilogy. This is a really bad piece of sociology, characterized by a technologically deterministic analysis. Why did I give it two stars instead of one then? Well, it does have some OK parts. Catsell's analysis of the origins of the internet is an interesting bit of the sociology of technology and what saves the book from pure technological determinism. He also presents some convincing data (gathered by other people) that use of the internet for socializing does not suck people into an on-line world, alienating them from the world of face-to-face interaction; this happens in the case of a few troubled people, but most people use the internet to enhance their already existing off-line relationships. The rest of the book basically argues that the network format of the internet is reshaping the rest of society in its image, with everything from big business to governments to social movements adopting a network form in response to the rise of this new technology. This is, frankly, ludicrous reductionism. It doesn't even stand up to a simple test of chronology--a lot of the developments that Castells argues are driven by the internet predate the explosion of ist usage in the mid-1990s. As Castells himself admits, businesses were already taking on more of a network form before the internet appeared big time on the scene, and social movement scholars have shown the same is true of transnational social movements. On top of this, Castells shows an effusive enthusiasm for all things networked, whether they be transnational corporations or the transnational social movements that oppose these same corporations. I'm really at a loss to understand how one can enthuse about both of these opposed phenomena. Castells does see some of the problems with the new network society--loss of job security and the digital divide, for instance--but he tends to downplay these. And his solution to these problems tends to come down to more of the same--more internet access, more network social organization. Talk about a narrow vision.
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