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The End of Big: How the Internet Makes David the New Goliath. Nicco Mele. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2013. 714 pp. $25.99.In The End of Big: How the Internet Makes David the New Goliath, Nicco Mele himself takes on the role of David. He attempts to describe, dissect, and interpret the gargantuan effect the Internet has had on nearly every institution of modern society. It is huge task-akin, perhaps, to writing book that attempts to interpret the meaning of life- but Mele is up to the task. The reader may not agree with everything Mele writes, but The End of Big is an engaging, thoughtful, and certainly comprehensive look at how recent technology has affected nearly every move we make, and how it has upended nearly every aspect of our lives.Part of the book's charm is its simple structure and Mele's readable and straightforward writing style. Others have taken on the job of interpreting the ramifications of the digital age, both in books and articles, but many have tripped over their own words or found themselves drowning in an abyss of explanation and background. Mele is very concise in his explanations and his views. (In nutshell, the book is saying that the cons of the new technology probably outweigh the pros-at least for now.)His first chapter includes simple explanation of the structure of the book, little Internet history, and summary of how the tornado of technology has affected the world's major institutions. Specifically, he writes chapters about its effects on news and journalism, education, entertainment and culture, government, defense, and private industry (although, of course, many of these institutions overlap), and he acknowledges that each one of these chapters merits its own book. Mele sometimes uses his personal experiences to shore up his arguments. He is former webmaster for Howard Dean's 2004 presidential campaign, and, according to the book jacket, a leading forecaster of business, politics, and culture in our fast moving digital age.Mele is, of course, not the first person to observe that the phenomenal growth of the Internet has democratized communication and all but eliminated conventional filters that allowed few powerful gatekeepers to gauge what we buy, how we learn, how we govern, and hundreds of other aspects of society. To Mele, however, those who know how to use the technology, and even those who created it, are not necessarily the ones who will ultimately control it. It is those who grasp the thinking underlying the technology who will hold that power, he writes. The irony, he points out in Chapter One, is that this group that disdains and shuns conventional power centers has established beachhead of its own, and those who once rebelled against the established way of thinking have, ultimately, created their own establishment.Experts in any single aspect of the book might find that some of his points and explanations have already been told; but to laymen, his discussions can be interesting and new. …
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