We-Think: Mass innovation, not mass production [Paperback]

'Likely to be the most controversial book about the Internet to be published in Britain this year... A highly readable British synthesis of James Surowiecki's Wisdom of the Crowds and Chris Anderson's Long Tail, Leadbeater's We-Think is definitely an important book, even for skeptics like me who are suspicious of the seductive techno-utopian promises of the Web 2.0 revolution.' Andrew Keen, Independent'this is a highly accessible and stimulating introduction to a set of trends that are still very much in their early stages. We should all be thinking a lot harder about where they will lead.' www.charliebeckett.org --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

"* 'a riveting guide to a new world in which a whole series of core assumptions are being overturned by innovations on the web' Mathew D'Ancona, The Spectator 'Leadbeater - with the help of his hundreds of online collaborators - has written an excellent, intelligent and comprehensive guide to the labyrinth of bewildering ways in which a truly revolutionary era is unfolding.' Sunday Telegraph 'I was gripped. The book's theme is as big and bold as it gets... Leadbeater's book should be compulsory reading for all who seek to understand the driving force of this century.' Management Today 'Likely to be the most controversial book about the internet to be published this year... I urge you to read it' The Independent"

The man The Spectator calls 'the new wizard of the web' explores the ways in which mass collaboration is dramatically reshaping our approach to work, play and communication.

Society is no longer based on mass consumption but on mass participation. New forms of collaboration - such as Wikipedia and YouTube - are paving the way for an age in which people want to be players, rather than mere spectators, in the production process. In the 1980s, Charles Leadbeater's prescient book, In Search of Work, anticipated the growth of flexible employment. Now We-think explains how the rise of mass collaboration will affect us and the world in which we live.

'A riveting guide to a new world ... The seer has spoken' Spectator You are what you share. That is the ethic of the world being created by YouTube and MySpace, Wikipedia and Facebook. We-Think is a rallying call for the shared power of the web to make society more open and egalitarian. We-Think reports on an unparalleled wave of collaborative creativity as people from California to China devise ways to work together that are more democratic, productive and creative. This guide to the new culture of mass participation and innovation is a book like no other: it started first online through a unique experiment in collaborative creativity involving hundreds of people across the globe. The generation growing up with the web will not be content to remain spectators. They want to be players and this is their slogan: we think therefore we are.

Charles Leadbeater is one the world's leading authorities on innovation and creativity in organisations. He has advised companies, cities and governments around the world, from the BBC and RSC to Vodafone and Microsoft, has won the prestigious David Watt prize for journalism and in 2005 was ranked by Accenture as one of the top management thinkers in the world. His previous books include Living on Thin Air and Up the Down Escalator. Time magazine highlighted his work in its 2006 review of ideas that could shape the coming decade.