Too Big To Know

Rethinking Knowledge Now That the Facts Aren't the Facts, Experts Are Everywhere, and the Smartest Person in the Room Is the Room

By: David Weinberger

Narrated by: Peter Johnson

Length: 8 hrs and 2 mins

Publisher's summary

We used to know how to know. We got our answers from books or experts. We'd nail down the facts and move on. But in the Internet age, knowledge has moved onto networks. There's more knowledge than ever, of course, but it's different. Topics have no boundaries, and nobody agrees on anything. Yet this is the greatest time in history to be a knowledge seeker - if you know how.

In Too Big to Know, Internet philosopher David Weinberger shows how business, science, education, and the government are learning to use networked knowledge to understand more than ever and to make smarter decisions than they could when they had to rely on mere books and experts. This groundbreaking book shakes the foundations of our concept of knowledge - from the role of facts to the value of books and the authority of experts - providing a compelling vision of the future of knowledge in a connected world.

©2012 David Weinberger (P)2011 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Led by the Internet, knowledge is now social, mobile, and open. Weinberger shows how to unlock the benefits." (Marc Benioff, chairman, CEO salesforce.com)

Good to know ...

Every wonder why we've seen such a rise of Facebook and other micro-blogging technologies? Ever wonder why we are seeing major differences in how children and young adults are dealing with new technologies? We are seeing a "sea change" event as the amount of information available to us rapidly exceeds our ability to use it. Worse yet, standard institutions that would allow us to better manage that information flow are themselves overwhelmed. We all see the change. But do we understand WHY it is happening and what are the ramifications. THAT is what this book attempts to tackle. Hopefully you will also find this book insightful.

Enlarging our network make us better

This book is a gem of a find. I get really irritated when I come across people who tell me how the internet makes us stupid. The author eviscerates that view point through anecdotes, context and trends. The author is good at providing the context around the nature of the philosophy of science and its development. Data becomes information which becomes knowledge and this process of becoming has changed because of the enlarging of our network. The author effectively uses Darwin's theory of evolution as a historical template for the enlarging of our network.

If it weren't for the enlarging of our networks, I would never be able to find pearls of great price like this book. Audible itself would most likely not even exist. These internet effects change how I have been learning about the world, and I'm glad a book such as this has come along and so elegantly explains some of its advantages.

(If you do read this book, first read the T. S. Eliot poem "The Rock" since the book cites it and really does seem to develop its narrative around that poem).