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Review
Eli Pariser is worried. He cares deeply about our common social sphere and sees it in jeopardy. He has got me worried, too. A must-read (David Kirkpatrick, author of The Facebook Effect )
Anyone who cares about the future of [humanity] in a digital landscape should read this book - especially if it is not showing up in your recommended reads on Amazon (Douglas Rushkoff, author of Life Inc )
If you feel that the Web is your wide open window on the world, you need to read this book to understand what you aren't seeing (Jaron Lanier, author of You Are Not a Gadget )
Internet firms increasingly show us less of the wide world, locating us in the neighborhood of the familiar. The risk, as Eli Pariser shows, is that each of us may unwittingly come to inhabit a ghetto of one (Clay Shirky, author Here Comes Everybody and Cognitive Surplus )
You spend half your life in Internet space, but trust me - you don't understand how it works. This book is a masterpiece of investigation and interpretation (Bill McKibben, author of Earth and founder of 350.org )
A must-read book about one of the central issues in contemporary culture: personalization (Caterina Fake, co-founder of flickr )
Anyone who cares about the future of [humanity] in a digital landscape should read this book - especially if it is not showing up in your recommended reads on Amazon (Douglas Rushkoff, author of Life Inc )
If you feel that the Web is your wide open window on the world, you need to read this book to understand what you aren't seeing (Jaron Lanier, author of You Are Not a Gadget )
Internet firms increasingly show us less of the wide world, locating us in the neighborhood of the familiar. The risk, as Eli Pariser shows, is that each of us may unwittingly come to inhabit a ghetto of one (Clay Shirky, author Here Comes Everybody and Cognitive Surplus )
You spend half your life in Internet space, but trust me - you don't understand how it works. This book is a masterpiece of investigation and interpretation (Bill McKibben, author of Earth and founder of 350.org )
A must-read book about one of the central issues in contemporary culture: personalization (Caterina Fake, co-founder of flickr )
Product Description
Imagine a world where all the news you see is defined by your salary, where you live, and who your friends are. Imagine a world where you never discover new ideas. And where you can't have secrets.
Welcome to 2011.
Google and Facebook are already feeding you what they think you want to see. Advertisers are following your every click. Your computer monitor is becoming a one-way mirror, reflecting your interests and reinforcing your prejudices.
The internet is no longer a free, independent space. It is commercially controlled and ever more personalised. The Filter Bubble reveals how this hidden web is starting to control our lives - and shows what we can do about it.
Inside This Book
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
19 of 21 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The Filter Bubble is an incredible book that everybody needs to read! I've finished reading the US version (released last month) and haven't hesitated to recommend it to all of my friends across the pond.
What's the book about?
In short, we're entering a new period of growth with the Internet. The web we once knew is changing -- it's becoming personalized. This isn't always a bad thing -- the Internet is massive and we need ways to make it relevant. But what's alarming is that these new personalization filters are changing things without us knowing and they're focused on making money.
Websites need clicks and they're going to show us whatever articles, search results, ads, or data they can to get those clicks. This is dangerous. There are certain things we NEED to see, but might never click on. Like news from the ongoing wars in the Middle East. We also tend to get fed only information that reinforces our own views once inside the filter bubble. This poses huge problems for democracy and civic engagement.
But what's most exciting is how early the book comes in the development of 'the new personalized web'. It's not a historical account, it's an active part of the discussion. Eli has managed to place himself just in front of the tech wave (no small feat) while providing both a detailed analysis of what's currently taking place and where things might lead.
Very well worth the read, and then some!
What's the book about?
In short, we're entering a new period of growth with the Internet. The web we once knew is changing -- it's becoming personalized. This isn't always a bad thing -- the Internet is massive and we need ways to make it relevant. But what's alarming is that these new personalization filters are changing things without us knowing and they're focused on making money.
Websites need clicks and they're going to show us whatever articles, search results, ads, or data they can to get those clicks. This is dangerous. There are certain things we NEED to see, but might never click on. Like news from the ongoing wars in the Middle East. We also tend to get fed only information that reinforces our own views once inside the filter bubble. This poses huge problems for democracy and civic engagement.
But what's most exciting is how early the book comes in the development of 'the new personalized web'. It's not a historical account, it's an active part of the discussion. Eli has managed to place himself just in front of the tech wave (no small feat) while providing both a detailed analysis of what's currently taking place and where things might lead.
Very well worth the read, and then some!
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The author spends 250 or so pages telling us how awful this new personalised internet is (which I agree with), but only 6 and a half pages on how to defend against it!
6.5 pages??!!! Are you kidding me? You think this is such a serious issue that your write a 250 page book but only make the effort to knock out 6.5 pages in the "what you can do" section?
The section on how to defend yourself contains no mention of:
Firefox
Linux
Tor
Java script blocking
Pretty poor effort.
6.5 pages??!!! Are you kidding me? You think this is such a serious issue that your write a 250 page book but only make the effort to knock out 6.5 pages in the "what you can do" section?
The section on how to defend yourself contains no mention of:
Firefox
Linux
Tor
Java script blocking
Pretty poor effort.
12 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is my first review, and I only create it because I think I see a major flaw in an otherwise well-researched, well-argued book.
The people that are likely to buy this book are people who are web-savvy. That's the demographic this book is realisticaly aimed at. While the majority of people in developed countries use the web all the time, most of them don't care (and will never care) about the pertinent issues brought up in this book.
However, those of us likely to buy the book and likely to care about the issues within it have already circumvented most of the problems outlined by Pariser. The main problem I have with his book is that he does not once mention this culture of free (and ad-free) media that has grown with the net, and he does not provide the innocent reader with the means to become part of that culture.
If he is unaware of this culture, he is ignorant. If he is aware of it, he (and/or his publisher and/or editor) must be some kind of corporate shill.
I don't get my music from iTunes or Pandora or Spotify; I get it from torrents, and so do millions of others.
I don't get my films from Netflix; I get them from torrents and free streaming sites, as do millions of others.
I use Firefox rather than IE and cookies are deleted after every session. Millions, etc.
I use AdBlock Plus so I never see any adverts on any page anywhere on the internet, not even adverts embedded in videos. This one Firefox extension renders half of "The Filter Bubble" irrelevant because all those targeted adverts generated by uber-sophisticated algorithms, never even reach me. Nyah nyah nyah. Millions.
I can guarantee that the demographic I mention above (the "web-savvy") will almost all concur with my above statements, and are also the people most likely to buy this book.
As such, while the book makes some excellent points that are relevant to the majority, that majority will never read it. Those who do read it are likely to be like me and for us these concerns are irrelevant beyond preaching the gospel of torrents and AdBlock to others which kind of makes the book already outdated or "outcultured".
Not once are any techniques mentioned for avoiding the Orwellian outcome of the scenarios described in the book. These techniques are both easy to discover and easy to implement. I find such omission worrying.
tl;dr - Good research, good arguments, missing the most radical slice of net culture; the widespread culture of easily accessed free media with a total lack of any adverts.
The people that are likely to buy this book are people who are web-savvy. That's the demographic this book is realisticaly aimed at. While the majority of people in developed countries use the web all the time, most of them don't care (and will never care) about the pertinent issues brought up in this book.
However, those of us likely to buy the book and likely to care about the issues within it have already circumvented most of the problems outlined by Pariser. The main problem I have with his book is that he does not once mention this culture of free (and ad-free) media that has grown with the net, and he does not provide the innocent reader with the means to become part of that culture.
If he is unaware of this culture, he is ignorant. If he is aware of it, he (and/or his publisher and/or editor) must be some kind of corporate shill.
I don't get my music from iTunes or Pandora or Spotify; I get it from torrents, and so do millions of others.
I don't get my films from Netflix; I get them from torrents and free streaming sites, as do millions of others.
I use Firefox rather than IE and cookies are deleted after every session. Millions, etc.
I use AdBlock Plus so I never see any adverts on any page anywhere on the internet, not even adverts embedded in videos. This one Firefox extension renders half of "The Filter Bubble" irrelevant because all those targeted adverts generated by uber-sophisticated algorithms, never even reach me. Nyah nyah nyah. Millions.
I can guarantee that the demographic I mention above (the "web-savvy") will almost all concur with my above statements, and are also the people most likely to buy this book.
As such, while the book makes some excellent points that are relevant to the majority, that majority will never read it. Those who do read it are likely to be like me and for us these concerns are irrelevant beyond preaching the gospel of torrents and AdBlock to others which kind of makes the book already outdated or "outcultured".
Not once are any techniques mentioned for avoiding the Orwellian outcome of the scenarios described in the book. These techniques are both easy to discover and easy to implement. I find such omission worrying.
tl;dr - Good research, good arguments, missing the most radical slice of net culture; the widespread culture of easily accessed free media with a total lack of any adverts.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Taking control of personalisation
The book is not too long and is well written for the broad population that are interested in the Internet. Read more
Published 4 months ago by R. A. Merrick
An interesting enough read
The Filter Bubble: What The Internet Is Hiding From You is an interesting book. It basically goes into detail on how information is collected via the web from sites such as Google,... Read more
Published 4 months ago by J. Willis
over-hyping the new digital bogeyman
although "the Filter Bubble" is certainly "zeitgeist" + thus guaranteed to sell very well ( cynical moi ? Read more
Published 8 months ago by simon mack
A little going a long way
I just happen to concur with the review above by T. Grant and the sentiments expressed in the others. Read more
Published 8 months ago by SergiusT
Pretentious rubbish from a self publicist
This guy argues that information overload is a good thing, and that technology to filter it for you should be burned like a heretic. A non-issue if ever there was one.
Published 9 months ago by timlondon02
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