The Cult of The Amateur: A pointless book

I have finished reading The Cult of The Amateur, Andrew Keen's rather vicious and bitter polemic against the New Media, Web 2.0, participatory and democratic culture of the Internet. It was a clear waste of time. I have compounded that waste by attempting to write a short review, just to warn my fellow Linkedin members just how bad it is. I would not want to attempt to write about it yet again - will just quote what I wrote on Linkedin:

One of those pointless polemic against the Internet and participative content - Web 2.0 - by an author who seemed to be bitter about everything. He blames internet for the demise of all the good things in life - Newspapers, Music, Hollywood, Encyclopedias, Universities, Bookstores, Music Shops - and for the rise of all the bad things - Intellectual Theft, Pornography, Gambling etc.

I must admit that I skimmed through most of it, and thanked myself that I did not waste my money by buying it. In the end, I came to one conclusion - only a Public School Brit can write such a book [and though I have no idea about Andrew Keen's political pursuation, I suspect he must be an old school Tory]. He refuses to admit that the technology of the day shapes the legal and moral context, and not the other way round.

I would not recommend anyone wasting any money on buying the book. You will usually find a fresh, largely untouched copy in the Library. Read it if you have a couple of evenings without anything to do, or looking for some distractive amusement other than pornography.

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