Words> The Cult of the Amateur by Andrew Keen

A word of warning. "The Cult of the Amateur" must be one of the worse books I've read and gotten through. Penned by Andrew Keen, a Silicon Valley Brit who, it sounds, has grown bitter at the web 2.0 phenomenon, is chock-a-block with misinterpretations, misinformation and data taken our of context. Keen has a couple of valid concerns about web 2.0 and couple that are not really related, but most of the rationale he puts behind these concerns is empty and conservative in the worst way. He undermines any little credibility the book might have by wrongly describing the principle of Google's and other search engines; by comparing apples to oranges in both music and movie industry figures; and by using the word 'indeed' more often than any Briton should get away with, as if to echo his own words at the fear of not having enough of an audience.

The book could have discussed valid points and suggested solutions for increasing media and source criticism, and respect for intellectual property - instead, it reads like a sudden burst of negativity from the resentful sidelines. After all, the sub-title is "How Today's Internet is Killing Our Culture and Assaulting Our Economy", and the tone of the rest of the book doesn't get much better. I can't figure out why it was published, since it's not even worthy of any sensationalist edge Keen so seems to despise in his description of how blogs and YouTube videos are uneducated trite - yet, as he laments after big-budget movies underperforming at the box office, he gives as an example the movie SNAKES ON A PLANE? Oh yes, Internet, please kill our culture if this is what it has become.