Terry

Jeff Jarvis has written a rhetorically tight, logically sound, and presentably quotable speech on the importance of publicness in modernity. I say speech specifically as the presentation is more persuasive than scholarly and argument is more woven than partitioned. The debate style was very continental, constantly invoking previous scholars work but without the analytically rigorous support that I would have liked. Large numbers are presented as facts provided by Internet notables rather than as the result of studies and I would have trouble trying to use the content here for more than just dinner party conversation.

Finally, the content is very now-focused. This book is neither timeless nor kind to those who've not paid attention to recent news. A better title may have been "Privacy in the Second Decade of the 21st Century".

This is an unremarkable book that glams together a bunch of topics in modern science poorly. The beginning discussion of scale is interesting as the author notes that in physics, laws are rarely overturned universally, but adjustments need to be made at particular scale points at either very big or very small sizes. This was an nice way of summarizing the places where physics needs to be updated but much beyond this the book does nothing particularly well.

*The technical detail on the LHC is absolutely excessive. There is some commentary for the lay reader but wikipedia is probably a better resource.

*The puns are simply awful.

*The author seems to name-drop. I don't care about your personal relationship with the scientists you mention.

*Too many references to previous works. Please don't use your new book to sell your old one.

*Failure to do much mentioned in the subtitle.

After finishing this book and having some time to meditate on it, it was not worth the time nor money. Consider Lee Smolin's "The Trouble With Physics" for a much better exploration of current questions in physics.