Customer Reviews

War in the Age of Intelligent Machines

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De Landa's theoretical connections are interesting and thought provoking but are unfortunately very often not adequately cited. In his attempt to explain the entire development of warfare, De Landa displays only a cursory knowledge of his topic frequently neglecting to mention crucial information. A few errors and mis-explanations early in the book made me question everything he had to say. This book is great for the images and connections it invokes. The theoretical leaps it makes are admirable. Do not however, rely upon this book for factual information.

De Landa in the book puts together something that is both very impressing in unexpected ways and wholly disappointing in very predictable ways. As to substance, what he does is neat and innovative for what is, essentially, a popular book in an unread subgenre; it's of the same order as DJ Spooky CDs (more or less academic in a popularly predictable sort of way). And, again, like DJ Spooky, De Landa is REALLY smart but in a dilettente-sortish way; I know from having gone there that he is a professor at Columbia-- I'm not sure in what discipline (architecture[?]) but his class, I'm sure, is mind boggling and fun.....

And here come this book's problems. Because of the scope of what he takes on, he makes some little mistakes. My academic background is in political economics; he misspells an author's name for the whole of the text (Douglass North has two 's's). That makes me a little scared of what other little mistakes he makes, or if he makes BIG mistakes that because of this work's broad scope I'd never catch.

This book is a definate must-read; his '1000 years of Non-linear history' by all accounts is even more amazing (including my own!) and this is a really, really smart book.

Buy this!

A stunning book. Read it and you'll be amazed!

A very early and largely academic-historical-philosophical discussion of the changing nature of the relationships between humans, computers, and war. Written prior to the Silicon Valley explosion, and thus still very concerned about the military dominance of information technology. A good alternative overview.

De Landa strikes me as a popularizer, but what he lacks in theoretical rigor he more than makes up for with discipline, serious intent, and sheer vision. Best antidote in print to the kind of mostly ignorant, ahistorical cyberphilia that dominates too much of "Wired" and other ongoing public discussions of our technological future. If you like this, you must not miss "A Thousand Years of Nonlinear History", which advances his methods and insight to a much wider, even more significant level.