The Power of Many: How the Living Web Is Transforming Politics, Business, and Everyday Life

by Christian Crumlish

"A lot of people are starting to use the Internet to reconnect themselves to their neighborhood, their community, and the world. The Power of Many is a great survey of the way this is really being accomplished by many individuals working together." --Craig Newmark, founder of craigslist.org "What a fascinating topic. If you're interested in the future, the past, or the present, then you should read this book." --Scott Heiferman, Co-Founder of Meetup.com...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0782143466
• ISBN13: 9780782143461
• Release Date: September 2004
• Publisher: Sybex
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 1.33 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

A visionary book

I regret that it took me so long to write this review, since I knew about the book before it came out. But since that time I have witnessed its premise proved true over and over again in the local political process. Something very special--new and not so new--is at work here. Today more than any time I can remember (including the worst of the '60s), responsible, hardworking citizens feel alienated and abandoned by the democratic process. What good can taking action do when such gigantic and powerful players are on the other side of the debate and show no respect for reasoned argument or even the rule of law? But pick a seemingly tiny, local problem--trash pickup or snacks in school vending machines or use of public parks--and here are issues for which my neighbors will go to meetings, pull out their wallets, and even endorse candidates. Cluster those interests in a vertical website, allow some accretion to take place, combine those online credit card micro-donations, and suddenly thousands of like-minded folks find out that they have clout--and lots to talk about not only on trash disposal, snacks, and recreation but also on sewers, land development, zoning, business licensing, taxation, representation, and war and peace. Hail Crumlish Caesar! Long live the Republic! Blogs are free speech!

Buy This Book...

Christian Crumlish's "The Power of Many" changed my life, but more over changed my view on how the living web affects organizations and community organizing. I work for a political organization and everything that Mr. Crumlish discusses in his book, I'm currently examining and seeing how it can be applied in a political context. For the most part, everything we've tried concerning community building and decentralization, has come with much success. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to move their business, corporation, or organization into the 21st century. The future is now and Christian Crumlish had effectively documented how it can improve social networking and overall interaction with the "living web."

The right place, the right time, the right questions

This book has all the hallmarks of a classic. It's what happens when you drop a witty, cool, and curious observer into the maelstrom of a tsunami social change which is at and through its tipping point. Xian is like a great Sherlock Holmes who probes and interviews for facts and clues, for causes and effects. The decentralization of power, of information, of influence changes... everything. Pluralism is no longer just for politics. It's for the arts, and sciences, and community, and the workplace. Xian manages to find people who surf these waves of change, who're living it or making it happen, and gets you the inside view. And, like Holmes, he connects the dots. When you're done, you have a new way to think about your world, a context for connecting your own dots.

entering the blogosphere

The blog phenomenon is notable for its technical simplicity but social complexity. Christian Crumlish's "The Power of Many" is a friendly but serious and substantive invitation to join the increasingly influential and entertaining world known as the "blogosphere". I've known Christian for years, and I know he's been living a bloggy existence for longer than almost anybody else(his "Breathing Room" journal was basically a proto-blog before anybody else cared about this format). His knowledge of online culture goes deep, and it is clear that he wants to take his readers by the hand and make them feel comfortable in this strange new social sphere, where you can get a page built in an hour but might then spend days or weeks or months trying to understand what to do with it, how to meet others, how to get others to blogroll you, and how not to feel like a complete outsider in this friendly but fast-moving world. I like it that the book is that it is organized by subject matter. How is the online scene improving political dialogue? That's one chapter. The impact of cyber-culture on arts and literature is another chapter, and so on. The book is a broad sweep across all human disciplines that are touched by online interactivity (which is to say, all human disciplines). As always with Crumlish's books, the style is warm, human and approachable, and he manages to slip in a few good music references. It's also functional -- he knows that you are writing this book because there is something you want to get out of it, and he works hard to deliver what he thinks the reader needs. This is the kind of book that gets your wheels turning -- and by the time I finished the first chapter I already knew I was going to follow the author's advice and begin working harder to transform my own online community (LitKicks.com) so that it fits better into the "blogosphere". I am convinced, and if you read this book I think you will be too.

One of the many

The other day I received my copy of The Power of Many by Christian Crumlish. I don't recall exactly when I first met Christian online. The earliest emails that I can find have from him are from December 2003. During this time, I was working as a volunteer for Howard Dean's presidential campaign. In particular, I was working with DeanSpace, an effort to help many small groups easily set up powerful interconnected websites. A lot has happened since then. DeanSpace has evolved into CivicSpace (www.civicspacelabs.org). Kerry is now the Democratic nominee. My wife is now a candidate for State Representative in Connecticut (kimhynes.smartcampaigns.com). Many of us have been using our experiences from the Dean campaign to help other campaigns, and many people are fishing around for a good book to try and understand how the internet is changing politics and all aspects of our lives. The Power of Many is the book you should read if you want to get a real, on the ground, grassroots perspective of what happened during the Dean campaign and what it means for our country today. Christian has done a great job of speaking with many bloggers and grassroots activists. He explains the actions and technology in a way that many can understand and appreciate. For people who want to understand what my involvement was like, and the involvement of many others, start with The Power of Many.