The Wisdom of Crowds | 
|  | | | Title: | The Wisdom of Crowds | | Author: | James Surowiecki | | Publisher: | Anchor | | Type: | Book / Paperback | | Publication Date: | 16 August, 2005 | | ISBN / ISBN-13: | 0385721706 / 9780385721707 | | List Price: | $14.95 | | You Save: | $4.78 | | Amazon Price: | $10.17 | |
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Product Description
In this fascinating book, New Yorker business columnist James Surowiecki explores a deceptively simple idea: Large groups of people are smarter than an elite few, no matter how brilliant–better at solving problems, fostering innovation, coming to wise decisions, even predicting the future.
With boundless erudition and in delightfully clear prose, Surowiecki ranges across fields as diverse as popular culture, psychology, ant biology, behavioral economics, artificial intelligence, military history, and politics to show how this simple idea offers important lessons for how we live our lives, select our leaders, run our companies, and think about our world.
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Customer Reviews:
• Wisdom Of Crowds 07 September, 2008
As the title suggests, this books attempts to explore the collective intelligence of crowds. It covers a variety of settings, from traffic jams to the stock market performance. The book reminds me of Gladwell's book "The Tipping Point" but feels a bit more cerebral and densely written.
In talking about the wisdom of crowds, Surowiecki recounts a 1958 study that demonstrates the collective wisdom of groups. Students were asked to meet someone in NYC. They didn't know where to meet, and had no way to talk to the other person ahead of time. Yet the majority of students chose the very same meeting place: the information booth at Grand Central station. Not knowing what time they were supposed to meet, just about all of the students said they would show up at the stroke of noon. "In other words, if you dropped two law students at either end of the biggest city in the world and told them to find each other, there was a very good chance they'd end up having lunch together" (p. 91).
All told, a fun read.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A3NIAAQXQ0GKHR
• Hilarious! 23 September, 2008
Hee, hee, hee! This title and this book sure look funny right now (September 22nd, 2008). Do we follow the wisdom of the crowds on Wall Street (which, if left to its own devises will continue to drive financial titans into bankrupcy), or the machinations of the dubious experts (Paulson & Bernanke), who will put us on the hook for hundreds of billions for years to come?
Maybe it's time to dust off that 19th Century classic "The Madness of Crowds" instead of reading this smug balderdash.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A18I57KJVC1BNN
• Great Stuff! 09 November, 2008
I read this for a MBA class. Out of the stack of books assigned, so far, this is the only one I liked. It is relevant to today's curious questions of how to get crowds engaged, how crowds behave, and why we even care.
I'm trying to teach people to work collaboratively together at work. They "think" they already are doing this but the author gives me new ideas on how to further their participation in team work. I find that in corporate america, people contribute mostly in their assigned role. "I am a business analyst so I don't give my 2 cents when solutioning". Yikes it drives me crazy that they put their single hats on then multi-task when we start talking about something that isn't their specialty.
Anyway, I underlined something on every other page which is a sign that I found this useful and something I will want to learn to apply.
Did I mention how good a writer this guy is?
- Reviewed by customer ID: A3M71NZFBLL3SG
• Why Don't Quantum Physicists Let A Crowd Predict The Higgs' Particle Mass-energy? 16 September, 2008
The author's thesis is that the answers of huge numbers of people tend to be more accurate than those of individuals even if these individuals are experts in the specific subject. He makes clear that this is not true for any specific trial in which one individual might score better than the average, but in a series of trials, the crowd outperforms any individual. The author also explains "magnification " of mistakes by peer conformance, a phenomenon that does not occur when the answer comes from a random crowd. Results from crowds or groups should be averaged and not "consensed" in order to obtain unbiased results.
In general I found the author's thesis quite interesting. During an exercise in class on peer conformance, we have seen, how the group's consensus gave a worse result than the best individual answer. Thus I agree with the author that peer conformance is not generating the best results. On the other hand, I doubt that this approach would work with more complex things than assigning magnitudes like weight, value, size, etc. to a common item. I do not believe that this method would come up with a cure for cancer or even assigning a magnitude like mass to a not so well known object like for example a W boson or a quark. It would also be interesting to find out if the crowds can predict the energy at which the 3 forces of nature unite (or even the four forces, including gravity).
All in all a good book.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A10O98CWTJQTYQ
• Unique Thinking For These Turbulent Times 19 October, 2008
I love books that take a new and unique idea, thoroughly research and expand the idea, and then present the findings in an entertaining, though-provoking way.
The Wisdom of Crowds is one such book. Other recent titles that have achieved the same type of cult following for presenting unique hypotheses include The Tipping Point, Blink and The 4 Hour Work Week.
You know the old saying, if you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you always got, and in the current turbulent economic and socially challenging times, this could not ring more true.
Surowiecki presents a unique concept that the collective thoughts of many will always be smarter than the elite few. He delves deep into this concept, and presents scenario after scenario for which this hypotheses holds true. The arguyment is compelling as it is entertaining and is hard to refute with all the evidence set forth.
Even if you disagree with the central theme, you'd be hard-pressed to say that you didn't find this book an entertaining read. The examples used to support his case alone are entertaining, educational and thought-provoking.
We really do need forward thinkers like Surowiecki to help look at the world's problems from a differing perspective. I really do look forward to Surowiecki's next book.
A great read!
Leigh Burke
Author of Niche Internet Marketing
NICHE Internet Marketing: The secrets to exploiting untapped niche markets and unleashing a tsunami of cash
- Reviewed by customer ID: A15ICTWNKTO2UM
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