Next
In Liar's Poker the barbarians seized control of the bond markets. In The New New Thing some guys from Silicon Valley redefined the American economy. Now, with his knowing eye and wicked pen, Michael Lewis reveals how much the Internet boom has encouraged great changes in the way we live, work, and think. He finds that we are in the midst of one of the greatest status revolutions in the history of the world, and the Internet turns out to be a weapon in the hands of revolutionaries. Old priesthoods—lawyers, investment gurus, professionals in general—are toppling right and left. In the new order of things, the amateur, or individual, is king: fourteen-year-old children manipulate the stock market and nineteen-year-olds take down the music industry. Deep, unseen forces are undermining all forms of collectivism, from the family to the mass market: one little black box has the power to end television as we know it, and another one—also attached to the television set—may dictate significant changes in our practice of democracy. Where does it all lead? And will we like where we end up? A brave new world indeed... and who better to guide us through it than Michael Lewis, whose subversive, trenchant humor is the perfect match to his subject matter. Here is a book as fresh as tomorrow's headlines, and as entertaining as its predecessors.
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What Hacker News says
- Michael Lewis wrote about this story in his book “Next”. Also in the New York Times magazine. The articles and book have some pretty interesting discussion and opinion about this case.
- Yes, although I read it in Michael Lewis' subsequent book "Next: The Future Just Happened." Amazon link (with ginormous affiliate revenue!):
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004R96TSM/ref=as_li_ss_tl?...
- One of my New Years resolutions is "Be more ridiculous more of the time." As I get older, I realize that being embarrassed of the things you want to do, or the experiments you want to try, is one of the most damaging aspects of human behavior.
There's an interesting idea in, I think, Next: The Future Just Happened by Michael Lewis, that part of the reason the Internet is such a huge phenomenon is because people can try on a new "self" just by creating a new account on some website. So, I thought, "Why can't I do that in real life, too?" There's no reason I can't wake up one day, and decide, "I'm going to be a really healthy person, and if it takes doing some odd things and causing friends and family to be a little baffled by my behavior now and then, that's OK. It's a worthy endeavor and a price worth paying to have the body and overall health I want."
In short, yes, my friends think my new diet is odd, and wonder why I'm not having pizza or beer with them (except on Saturday, my chosen "binge day"). And, yeah, some of the exercises look a little strange when I do them at the gym. But, so what? I just explain to my friends what I'm experimenting with, and why, and whether it's working or not (it seems to be, two weeks in). And I'm only at the gym for 20 minutes a couple times a week, following the protocol to the letter, so it's a small price to pay. I'm not touching on any of the extreme stuff that I can't back up with reliable science, but the diet and the muscle building regime are both well-backed and entirely fit with pretty conventional thinking. I could have constructed both from existing research on my own, had I taken the time to do so, the book just made it easy to follow (I have the book with me on my phone whenever I buy groceries or go to the gym, so I know I'm doing the right things).
