About the book
Tim Wu traces how human attention became a commodity, harvested by industries that have grown for more than a century. The story starts in the nineteenth century with Benjamin Day, who discovered that penny newspapers could make him rich. From there Wu follows radio, television and internet companies such as Facebook and Google, each of which became profitable by turning itself into an advertising platform. The underlying model, he argues, has never changed: free diversion is offered in exchange for a moment of time, which is then sold on to whichever advertiser bids highest. Wu, who coined the phrase net neutrality, also wrote the award-winning The Master Switch.
Historian Yuval Noah Harari called it an insightful survey of modern information technology and its political effects, from print and radio through Google and Facebook, that puts today's struggle over human attention in context.
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This book has 2 recommendations
Recommended by Marvin Liao (Partner/500 Startups)
Source: Marvin Liao, Partner at 500 Startups, Shares a List of More Than 40 Books That Inspired Him
Yuval Noah Harari (Historian)
A very insightful book that surveys the history of modern information technology and its political implications, from the age of print and radio to the era of Google and Facebook. It gives the context of the current battle to control human attention.
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Marvin Liao, Yuval Noah Harari