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Summary: New Rules is about the real world.
Review: Fortunately I read the book before I read the "official" reviews. I know people from a Presbyterian pastor in Baltimore to a union offical in Tallahassee who operate as if these rules are already in effect. This book is about the real world. Its challenge is to dare readers to measure the potency of their decisions against the "new rules." These are the the rules that business can use to validate its decisions. Violate these rules, and you put your profits at risk.Kelly's rules are a network (central theme of the book) of guiding principles. Each principle functions to serve each of the other rules in the network. Therefore, in contrast to the pop-press hodge-podge of futuristic notions, "New Rules" serves the reader by forging clearly stated relationships between the guiding principles of our increasingly technologically driven economy. This book will trigger ideas whether you are in a smokestack industry, financial services, or hi tech.
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Summary: Good book, to reflect on.
Review: I bought the book about a year ago and thumbed through it, it was a little boring at first, it gets better towards the end. It's not a long book. It's interesting to have read it again after the dot-com bust, to see how many of his points are still valid. Check it out.
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Summary: Where's the beef?
Review: I enjoy this work, lots of fresh observations and connections.... but having read it in the light of recent trends in the e-biz world, it sounds thin and delusional...a lot like Tom Peters after way too much espresso. There ARE consequences from CONTINUALLY embracing change...and, in my experience ALL of them are BAD. I wonder on what real-world EXPERIENCE Mr. Kelly bases his thinking. My advice, embrace chaos and change, but do it VERY CAREFULLY...because it will definitely have consequences. Truth & Beauty! -BvK
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Summary: Not for experts, nor for the naively uncritical
Review: I just finished Kevin Kelly's book, New Rules for the New Economy; it is provocative--"trenchant," as it says on the book jacket. I should preface my next remarks by saying that I'm glad I read the book and will recommend it to certain of you. Some of what Kelly says is compellingly true, and of that part, some of it was relatively new when the book was first written. At the same time,... I guess it is hard to show what you know in relatively few pages. As a writer, Kelly is clearly his own worst enemy. He uses cryptic graphics that sometimes convey a lot, sometimes convey nearly nothing. He writes oddly--his language is often imprecise, and since he is sort of terse, that occasional vagueness is pretty deadly. Often, too, he reduces what he has to say to sound bites. I'm wary of people who do that. They might be smart, they might be covering up dumb. They oversimplify, and usually end up sounding partly goofy. In this case, some of what Kelly says is sufficiently goofy that I don't know whether he is unaware of what has been written, doesn't understand what he has read, or doesn't believe what he has read. If you know what you are talking about, you are likely to be interesting. I think Kelly might be an interesting guy. He's no academic, but he's an educational omnivore. He shows evidence of having read some serious work in technological forecasting--but evidence, too, of not having read deeply on the subject. For example, he appears to be unaware of much of econometric and psychometric--that is, measurement--literature, and some of his statements make it appear that he is unaware of fairly well-known literature pertaining to diffusion and substitution in high-technology markets. At the same time, he appears to be intellectually and professionally very much in the center of the transformation of our economy from industrial to informational. I thought the book was thought-provoking. I recommend it primarily for the relative newcomer to information-economy writings, with the caveat that readers will have to identify for themselves facts, opinions, conjectures, overstatements, baloney, and a few really good ideas.
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Summary: Not revolutionary, BUT...
Review: I tend to give a book **** stars when it should be read and ***** when it must be read. This book remains a good read even after the dot-com implosion. Perhaps even a better read afterward since the hype and frenzy are long since gone and the work can better live and die on its own. Kevin Kelly, as founding editor of Wired magazine, has long been one of the new economy's chief advocates. In New Rules for the New Economy, Kelly tries to encapsulate the characteristics of this emerging economic order by laying out 10 rules for how the wired world operates. It is very well thought out and well written. A superb synthesis of new economy thinking. Right or wrong, it does a phenomenal job of putting forth the premises and substantive arguments that make the new economy such a provocative topic. Kelly manages to do this while maintaining a fluid and natural story telling style. Here is a representative sample excerpt: "Communication is the foundation of society, of our culture, of our humanity, of our own individual identity, and of all economic systems. This is why networks are such a big deal. Communication is so close to culture and society itself that the effects of technologizing it are beyond the scale of a mere industrial-sector cycle. Communication, and its ally computers, is a special case in economic history. Not because it happens to be the fashionable leading business sector of our day, but because its cultural, technological, and conceptual impacts reverberate at the root of our lives." This book both informs and, more importantly, inspires. Its powerful message has no doubt launched careers and changed lives. It will remain an important read for many, many years to come. Kevin, like all good pioneers, has taken more than his fair share of "arrows in the back", but don't be mis-led by the naysayers, this one is the real deal.
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Summary: An advice to dodge the traps of old thinking in te new era.
Review: In the short list of favorites, small but wide in concepts, very clear and illustrative, all you expect in few pages, very well organized and written, with a funny style a very serious book. Interesting from first to last page, without the boring redundances and long void explanations present in other books about the same matter. You can learn these fundamental principles and enjoy a quick and wealthy book. Save a lot of time reading others, read this, here's all.
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Summary: The Biology of a Networked Economy
Review: Kelly's book is a great overview of how the internet will and is now affecting the world and especially the economy. Clearly written, easy to follow along, and quick enough to read, it serves as a good executive overview and thought generator. If, as he maintains, you follow along these 10 guidelines, you'll prosper in the times ahead. But not without a few bumps in this most dynamic, chaotic world.
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Summary: A compelling literary "portal" on the economy's sea change
Review: Kevin Kelly's "New Rules for the New Economy" is no more about the economy than Alvin & Heidi Toffler's "Creating a New Civilization: The Politics of the Third Wave" is about politics--and no less. Kelly distills and synthesizes much of the current thinking of such luminaries as the Tofflers, Peter Drucker, Tom Peters, John Hagel III and Esther Dyson, into a practical guide for understanding the sea change affecting, and transcending, the emerging global economy. Kelly's ten rules are actually dynamic meta-principles that are helping to reshape culture and society, and with them the economy, organizational development and dynamics, management, computer-mediated communication, government, and changing notions of community. What Kelly's book sometimes lacks in originality it makes up for in accessibility -- a kind of literary "portal" (to borrow the Net term) that broadens access to thinkers and writers otherwise thought too specialized for a general audience. Yet, this very aggregation of multi-disciplinary vision and expertise, written with literary flourish and creativity, is exactly what makes Kelly's book so valuable.
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Summary: For the beginner
Review: Mr Kelly brings the man in the street up-to-date on the new economy. The book gives a very quick introduction to what the new age is all about. In relatively short chapters you get a glimpse of the changes taking place. He uses down to earth examples like how a farmer or a truck driver can benefit from the new technology and informational era. Mr Kelly has shared some strategies for thriving and succeeding in the 3rd millennium. He introduces you to basic concepts like Moore's Law & Gilder's Law. He even advices that if you want to go from one peak to another peak of success, you must go downhill first before travelling up! Read it to find out more strategies for thriving in 2001 & beyond!
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Summary: An Important Book
Review: Perhaps the most important books ever written have two qualities: 1. They apply to, and are accessible to, a large audience. 2. They provoke the reader enough to spark action. This book qualifies on both levels. 1. This book is the work of a man who has read all the important works of economists, computer scientists and historians regarding the "new economy" and has distilled it into his own version of applicable rules. Whether his distilled version is the best version is debatable. But his writing is concise, easy to read, and profound. It is very accessible to most readers, unlike the larger textbooks that many in his field write. This is important, because clearly the new economy affects everyone, not just the academic elite. 2. If you are a student of life, Kelly will provoke you to some action. His statements are all bold. He doesn't state the obvious; he makes predictions that may or may not come true, and he grounds them in fact and theory--albeit vaguely some times. But his message applies to everyone. One of the most underappreciated parts of the book is his bibliography at the end with his comments on how relevant he found each book. The action that Kelly sparked in me was my resolve to read more books--specifically the ones listed in his bibliography. If you want to study how the world is going to work in the future, my advice is to start with this book. It will open you eyes to a whole new world of writing.
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