An Army of Davids: How Markets and Technology Empower Ordinary People to Beat Big Media, Big Government, and Other Goliaths [Hardcover]

Thematically, there is nothing particularly new here for any regular readers of Instapundit, though this is a magnificent unification of Reynolds' arguments and comments on personal liberation through technology.

For those who do not frequent the blog, this book will be quite a different sort of adventure in the future than is usual: so accustomed I am to panic-mongering and doomsaying with books of this sort (froth-mouthed heralding of global warming, virulent pandemics, all of the "coming storm" offal), that this book and others like it (Ray Kurzweil's Singularity, for instance) are a breath of fresh air. The roles of "Big Business", "Big Media" (including Fox News, my rapacious fellow reviewers), and "Big Government" are reevaluated in the face of currently available technology that distributes power in a dynamic, decentralized order that can potentially revolutionize modern society. This is a future I am captivated by and embrace, thus I heartily recommend this book.

When I was younger, I had a friend who seemed to live somewhere in a grey area between reality and fantasy. He was able to deal with reality for periods, but would always slip back into strange little fantasies where he was a ninja or an elf warrior or something else equally strange. He and I would go to the park to practice golfing, but inevitably the golf club in his hand would become a sword and he would want to begin sword-fighting with me. He developed a near-obsession with fantasy books and games, science fiction and the like. The cover of every book he owned featured either a picture of spaceship or a warrior holding some ridiculously large weapon. As I read An Army of Davids I continued to conjure up memories of this friend.

Glenn Reynolds is best known as being the "Instapundit." His blog makes just about every other blog in the world look miniscule in comparison. His site gets more readers in a day than many blogs get in a decade. Just about every blogger dreams of someday having the audience and influence of the Instapundit. Most never will.

In some ways, Reynolds is the ultimate "little guy." Or that is how he started out, in any case. He represents a new breed of reporter who has arisen to challenge the mainstream media. With little more than a web site built upon free software and a desire to share what his interest in current events, he has become extraordinarily widely-read and influential. It was no great surprise, then, to learn that he had written a book that would seek to explain "how markets and technology empower ordinary people to beat big media, big government and other Goliaths." There are few people more qualified to join this discussion.

I was expecting a book about blogging and the power of new media. The marketing material I received along with this book promised that I would "learn how new technology has empowered the little guy." Specifically, it suggested it would explain "how bloggers brought down Trent Lott, Dan Rather, John Kerry and New York Times editor Howell Raines." Here is the section of the book dealing with John Kerry: "Another example involved Democratic candidate John Kerry's claim to have been in Cambodia on Christian Day 1968, which turned out not to be the case either" (91). So clearly the marketing material had it wrong, for this hardly explains how bloggers brought down John Kerry! Many other triumphs and challenges of the blogosphere received just as little attention.

So what is this book about? The thesis of the book seems to be captured in these words from the book's introduction. "I'll look at the way this change [big to small] is playing out in the worlds of business, media, the arts, and even national security. I'll look at the downside of empowering individuals: if amateur musicians or bloggers are empowered by technology, so in a different way are terrorists. Overall, I consider the trend to be a positive one. Whether you agree with that assessment or not, the existence of this empowerment is undeniable and irreversible. Love it or hate it, it's worth close consideration" (10).

There were some very good sections in this book. The section dealing with blogging did provide a challenge that the Goliaths of the world ought to consider. The section on horizontal knowledge did a good job of showing how information is increasingly moving horizontally, between groups of loosely-coordinated people, rather than vertically as in the past. Reynolds does prove, to some degree at least, that because of new technologies, the little guy is empowered in a way that was impossible in the past. And, as he says, "As the big guys get better at being big, it's actually easier for the little guys to stay small" (27). After all, if Wal-Mart and Kinko's, through their massive size, can reduce the cost of consumer goods, it makes it easier for small business to begin and thrive. There is an important synergy between the big guys and the little guys.

Right in the middle, just as the book is beginning to come together, it takes a strange turn and it began to evoke memories of my childhood friend. Reynolds leaves behind media and blogging and begins to fantasize about nanotechnology and life in space. You have to read it to believe it, but there is a long, detailed section of the book discussing the future colonization of Mars and a 4,000 ton Chinese spacecraft powered by nuclear explosions (not to be confused with a nuclear reactor). He even provides a primer on how we can prepare ourselves to deal with a terrorist attack. There are a couple of half-hearted attempts to somehow make this relevant to the thesis of the book, but it simply cannot be done convincingly (unless we are to believe that China, the most-populated nation on earth, is a "David" who is tackling the American "Goliath" in the space race). The final chapter introduces the concept of "singularity," which describes "the point at which technological change has become so great that it's hard for people to predict what would come next" (237). I think it is the point where robots take over the world and use as as their fuel source and those who remain develop superpowers (and yes, Reynolds does discuss the possibilities of humans with super strength, x-ray vision and underwater breathing).

Throughout the text Reynolds uses the pejorative word "Luddites" as often as the average Christian-market bestseller uses the words "Mother Teresa." He uses the word to describe any person who expresses fear or concern about technology. He often uses it without justification and without allowing legitimate concerns to be expressed and discussed.

The book concludes with these words: "The Army of Davids is coming. Let the Goliaths beware" (268). By the time I had waded through this book, it seemed to me that the previous 268 pages, or the previous 134 at any rate, were really just filler and did not do a whole lot to support this conclusion. I know what Reynolds was hoping to say: that small is the new big and that we are coming into an era where the little guy, David, will have ever-greater influence over the big guy, Goliath. The problem is that too much of the book did not even attempt to support this thesis, and several of the bits that tried fell flat.

I guess I could summarize by saying that I felt this book did not receive good editing. Half of the book could have been left on the editing-room floor and probably should have. Instead, An Army of Davids rambles on through topic after topic which seem to be related to each other only as Reynolds' personal interests. The book often seems to forget just what it is supposed to be about. I can't help but believe that Reynolds could have done better.

Whoever said size matters hasn't read An Army of Davids by Glenn Reynolds, well known in the blogsphere as Instapundit.com. The book is about how individuals, as opposed to large organizations, media, and government, are and will continue to be the primary moving force behind changes journalism, business, technology, space exploration, and overall human advancement.

Composed of twelve chapters, An Army of Davids examines our society from the bottom up. The analysis begins with the growing number of small businesses, specifically work-at-home jobs, in contrast Dilbert type office jobs. Reynolds suggests that this shift will continue and will be beneficial as a crime deterrent and for more stable families. Moving on, Reynolds looks at recent developments in music technology, the war on terror, and media as instances of individuals becoming more powerful and important.

After a brief interlude on good blogging, Reynolds continues by making the case that war video games have become the best educational tool for military history and tactics. He then moves on to discuss the possibilities available from the development of nano and age-prolonging technologies. The final chapters explore our potential for space exploration and reaching "singularity." Singularity, I think, refers to the point in time where technological advancement occurs beyond the grasp of human intelligence.

While an Army of Davids has much to offer, it also has a few problems. For one, the discussion of singularity went mostly over my head, and I think that's mostly because I couldn't find a clear definition in the book that could help make sense of the discussion. From time to time, some topics seemed to steer off course (portions of video gaming, nanotechnology, and space exploration come to mind) and in the back of my mind I questioned their relevance as I read.

I disagreed with a few points here and there, but the most troubling were statements about teens and pornography: "But, despite continued warnings from concerned mothers' groups, teenagers are less violent, and--according to some, if not all, studies--they're having less sex, not withstanding the predictions of many concerned people that such exposure would have the opposite effect. More virtual sex and violence would seem to go along with less real sex and violence; certainly with less pregnancy and violence." (149-150). The argument that Reynolds appears to make is that this is reason for considering deregulating pornography. However, assuming his premises hold up, he fails to consider psychological impact apart from promiscuity. What happens when these teens get married, if they do? How would this affect their marriage and families? How will these teens treat women? I fail to see any good possible answers.

Despite these shortcomings, An Army of Davids by Glenn Reynolds is a very intriguing book. It expanded my thought into areas I haven't considered, and for that I'm appreciative. Reynolds expertise and background make An Army of Davids an interesting and enjoyable book overall.