The Wisdom of Crowds

Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations

By: James Surowiecki

Narrated by: Grover Gardner

Length: 9 hrs and 29 mins

Publisher's summary

In this endlessly fascinating book, New Yorker columnist James Surowiecki explores a deceptively simple idea that has profound implications: large groups of people are smarter than an elite few, no matter how brilliant. Groups are better at solving problems, fostering innovation, coming to wise decisions, even predicting the future.

This seemingly counterintuitive notion has endless and major ramifications for how businesses operate, how knowledge is advanced, how economies are (or should be) organized, and how we live our daily lives. With seemingly boundless erudition and in delightfully clear prose, Surowiecki ranges across fields as diverse as popular culture, psychology, economic behaviorism, artificial intelligence, military history, and political theory to show just how this principle operates in the real world.

Despite the sophistication of his arguments, Surowiecki presents them in a wonderfully entertaining manner. The examples he uses are all down-to-earth, surprising, and fun to ponder. Why is the line in which you're standing always the longest? Why is it that you can buy a screw anywhere in the world and it will fit a bolt bought ten-thousand miles away? Why is network television so awful? If you had to meet someone in Paris on a specific day but had no way of contacting them, when and where would you meet? Why are there traffic jams? What's the best way to win money on a game show? Why, when you walk into a convenience store at 2:00 A.M. to buy a quart of orange juice, is it there waiting for you? What do Hollywood mafia movies have to teach us about why corporations exist?

The Wisdom of Crowds is a brilliant but accessible biography of an idea, one with important lessons for how we live our lives, select our leaders, conduct our business, and think about our world.

©2004 James Surowiecki (P)2004 Books on Tape

Critic reviews

"Surowiecki's style is pleasantly informal, a tactical disguise for what might otherwise be rather dense material. He offers a great introduction to applied behavioral economics and game theory." (Publishers Weekly)

Good food for thought

The author does a good job in compiling many examples of his theory, that groups decide in a better way than its individuals. Entertaining, yet scientific. The only disadvantage: It's so much stuff, that it's hard to recall all the arguments after listening for hours. Anyway, I would certainly recommend this book!

Brilliant

#1 book on crowd sourcing. This book was not too technical, nor was it a fanciful notion unsupported by facts. This was an efficient introduction to crowd sourcing

Anecdotal, interesting but not in depth.

This book is an easy read with provocative statements: group dynamics, need for group diversity and independence, pitfalls of cascading information, bubbles and the importance of group participation in democracy. There are some interesting anecdotes, quotable ideas but not an in depth analysis for my liking.

The narration is ok. I found it a bit monotone at times. Sounded like a male version of Siri.

Excellent

A profound examination that seems to tread remarkably close to defining
a kind of sacred mathmatics for the analysis and interpretation of group dynamics. Surowieki, in his consise and readable style, aggressively upends much of what assume to be true about how we actually do behave in the "crowds" we are participants in, and, how it is that our collective reasoning has both a capacity for stunning intelligence and shocking irrationality.

Waiting for Volume 2

What a great treat this book was. I had no particular expectations of this book and was pleased when it it drew me in, chapter after chapter. The amount of reference material the book relies on gives it a sturdy quality. The conclusions presented were, in my mind, reasonable.

I was sorry the book ended as quickly as it did. I can think of many more things I'd like this author's take on.

Trevor Goss

This book was well done and informative. I found it a little difficult at times to keep up with all the points the author made (there are many). All are around the same topic--how crowds can be more effective then individuals under certain conditions--but there are many sub points that can lead the reader/listener confused at times. This is one I could see myself listening to again to gain more clarity. The only reason that I didn't give it a 5 was because there is so much going on in this book, and to many I'm sure that's a good thing. For me it was too, but I offer that point as a means of caution to the person who thinks this is a quick and easy book. It isn't, but it is well researched and well thought out.

So good, I bought the hardcover book...

and loaned it out immediately. In fact, it is now with the third reader and I have not seen it since. Surowiecki does a great job of developing his thesis, including an excellent discussion of the lack of feedback loops for experts (or, more accurately, that experts are seldom held--or hold themselves--to account for their predictions, prognostications and recommendations. He also artfully and accurately describes the conditions for independence within the crowd and the cost of not having that independence. This is a vey useful book for consultants, managers whose responsibilities include working with groups and for association professionals. I particularly recommend that "Wisdom of Crowds" and Malcolm Gladwell's "Blink" be read together as the two books really form a strong basis for decision making.

Listen and Learn!

This book is worth reading and applying it's concepts to complex problems in your business life.

Dr.

First rate, provocative listening. The narrator is a pleasure to listen to. It was sad to reach the end!

Some Insights

I enjoyed the book; it demonstrates that intelligence can emerge bottom up. It has some shortcomings, however. It really doesn't go at the mechanisms of *how* intelligence emerges bottom up. Also, my preference would have been to have James Surowiecki read the book (he read the foreword), and not use a voice actor (a bit monotone).