Synopses & Reviews
Radical connectivity--our ability to connect instantly, constantly, and globally--is altering the exercise of power with dramatic speed and reshaping our biggest institutions. Governments, corporations, centers of knowledge, and expertise are eroding before the power of the individual. In some cases this is a positive development, but as Mele reveals, the promise of the Internet comes with a troubling downside. He asks: How do we trust information when journalists are replaced by bloggers, phone videos, and tweets? Will the collapse of two-party government bring us qualified leaders or demagogues and special-interest-controlled politicians? When web-based micro-businesses can out-compete major corporations, who enforces basic regulations--product safety, privacy protection, fraud, and tax collection?
Unless we exercise deliberate moral choice over the design and use of technologies, Mele contends, we doom ourselves to a future that tramples human values, renders social structures chaotic, and destroys rather than enhances freedom. Both hopeful and alarming, thought-provoking and passionately-argued, The End of Big is an important book about our present--and our future.
Review
“Well worth hearing and contemplating.”
—Audiobooks Today Booklist
Review
“[Sean Runnettes] smooth delivery makes him a great narrator for this audiobook. He easily maintains listeners attention with his gentle but firm voice as he navigates the text seamlessly.”
—AudioFile Library Journal
Review
“Runnette sounds . . . like he is having an intimate meeting with a small group of people. . . . His voice is pleasing to the ear, soft, and mellifluous. . . . Runnettes low-key reading makes the title not only easy to follow but down-right compelling.”
—Booklist
Review
“Sean Runnettes varied tones make Meles intricate arguments easy to follow.”
—Library Journal
Synopsis
Internet pioneer and Harvard Kennedy School lecturer Nicco Mele draws on nearly twenty years of experience to explore the consequences of revolutionary technology.
About the Author
SEAN RUNNETTE is a multiple Earphones winner, including one for his narration of
The Curve of the World (with Highbridge Audio). He has also directed and produced more than 200 audiobooks including several Audie® Award winners. He is an American Repertory Theater company member and has toured internationally with Mabou Mines. TV and film appearances include
Two if by Sea, Copland, Sex and the City, Law and Order, 3rd Watch and lots and lots of commercials. When not behind the mike, he also produced audiobooks and other works.
NICCO MELE is an adjunct professor at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and an expert on political campaigns in the digital world. His firm, EchoDitto, is a leading Internet strategy consulting company working with a long list of Fortune 500 companies, non-profit institutions, and individuals.