Rating: 
Summary: Internet Galaxy
Review: Overall I found this book to be moderately thought provoking but for the most part pretty dry. The chapters on the history and the digital divide were the most interesting chapters in the book in that they are fact based. This book is geared towards those who want to know about the effects of the Internet on society, future, past, and present. I think most people take for granted that the Internet is a part of our lives. This book opens your eyes about what the intent of the innovations were.
Rating: 
Summary: Complicated writing, but great ideas.
Review: Personally, I like the ideas of this book because the author perfectly combines the importance of Internet with cultures, politics, business, and society. He explains how this network has changed the world, and how the changes affect to our lives in term of the areas above. Anyway, I enjoyed reading chapter 8 and 9 the most. They are about Geography of Internet and The Digital Divide in a Global Perspectives. He analyzes each society and standard of living in each area by using Internet as an Economic indicator. However, Castells's writing style should be criticized. He is a brilliant academic, but he may not a good writer. In my view, his writing is so awkward, and he used too many technical terms that make average readers do not understand, and want to throw it out. Readers need to endure and concentrate with the first half book reading. Also, sometimes he explains something that is hard to be more difficult. Accordingly, I don't like chapter 1, 2, and 5. On the other hand, I may be not interested in History and Politics, so I felt that those chapters are so boring for me. Overall, The ideas of this book interested me, but the author should communicate his thoughts with easier words or sentences to make average readers to understand clearly and encourage them to read.
Rating:
Summary: Feable for the Internet Educated
Review: The Internet Galaxy mainly talks about the interaction between the Internet, the economy and the society. Each idea in the book is supported by research and observations that sometimes are unnecessary or obvious. For example, in Chapter 9 (The digital divide in a global perspective) Castells spends 30 pages proving points that are evident such as the fact that that Internet use is higher in the U.S. that in other country in the world or that the biggest cities have the most internet users. This kind of redundancy can provoke the reader to loose interest in the book. However, there are some chapters and ideas that are interesting and informative. For instance, I found Chapters 1 (Lessons from the history of the Internet) and 2 (The culture of the Internet) personally very informative. Due to my basic Internet knowledge, it was appealing for me to know the history of the Internet and how/why it was first created for. Also, thanks to Chapter 2, I clarify the meaning of the hacker culture.
In general, I could say that the book is interesting for people who have basic Internet knowledge. However, I would suggest the reader to skip some chapters if he/she wants to read the completed book and get a general sense of the book.
Rating:
Summary: Review - The Internet Galaxy
Review: The Internet Galaxy mainly talks about the interaction between the Internet, the economy and the society. Each idea in the book is supported by research and observations that sometimes are unnecessary or obvious. For example, in Chapter 9 (The digital divide in a global perspective) Castells spends 30 pages proving points that are evident such as the fact that that Internet use is higher in the U.S. that in other country in the world or that the biggest cities have the most internet users. This kind of redundancy can provoke the reader to loose interest in the book. However, there are some chapters and ideas that are interesting and informative. For instance, I found Chapters 1 (Lessons from the history of the Internet) and 2 (The culture of the Internet) personally very informative. Due to my basic Internet knowledge, it was appealing for me to know the history of the Internet and how/why it was first created for. Also, thanks to Chapter 2, I clarify the meaning of the hacker culture.
In general, I could say that the book is interesting for people who have basic Internet knowledge. However, I would suggest the reader to skip some chapters if he/she wants to read the completed book and get a general sense of the book.
Rating: 
Summary: If the internet affects your life, access this book.
Review: The Internet is possibly the next discovery of fire, in terms of human impact. Instant, and potentially cost-free transfer of information TO all and any FROM all and any. A true equality of 'right to know'.
This book lays out the processes of how it came to be, and for that alone, it is an important work. It also sheds light on ways the Internet is in danger of controlling influences of business interests that may take away some of its most promising gifts.
The book is not an easy read, but is worth the effort.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting Reflections on the Internet
Review: There were several areas from Castell's book that were thought provoking and key for individuals to understand regarding our networked society today. It provided a good overview on the Internet and the impact on our society. Some parts of the book were better than others but that probably reflects my personal areas of interests. I particularly enjoyed the sections regarding digital divide and security. Overall, the book provided good information and was thought provoking.
Rating:
Summary: Book Critique
Review: This book contains various points of view of the Cyber Technology. As this, it makes the book too broaden for the readers. Some chapters do not have need of in depth technological or political knowledge, but some do; therefore, the book could be boring for some techies or politicos to read. On the other hand, it could be somewhat exhausting for some front-ended readers. Personally, I am not quite motivated to read a book that an author tries to often connect or refer historical information with the present or current information. Absolutely, this book is considerably like that. However, some chapters, such as the Digital Divide most hit my interest for the reason that it is related to a situation about Thailand trying to spread out the use of the Internet to the residents. Furthermore, the digital divide can measure how well the infrastructure of a country is. Summarily, the book is fairly knowledgeable and it should be more clearly segmented as a leisure book, a text book, a critique of the situation, or a research book.
Rating:
Summary: Internet Gallaxy
Review: This book had some parts that made you look at the internet and technology in a way that you normally would not. It provided a framework for the analysis of some technologies and how they impact your life. The problem was that these parts were too scarce. In between the parts that really made you think, were long sections that were painfully dry. At times the author seemed to try to give himself credibility by displaying his vocabulary. It is very impressive, I would hate to play scrabble against him, but it does not make for good reading.
Rating:
Summary: The Internet Galaxy by Manuel Castells
Review: This was a requirement for a graduate course I recently took. Basically, I think this book was very uninteresting to read and I would not recommend it to others. At any point in a college degree, I think 90% of the information Mr. Castells provides is elementary. Most students know a lot of this information coming into college, much less this late in our college career. There were only a select number of things that I did not know previously, none of which will be beneficial to my degree or career. Furthermore, I also think Mr. Castells's writing was very dry and repetitious, which made it even harder to read. Overall, there were very few benefits to reading this book and many downfalls.
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