The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies, and Nations Audiobook

" The first few chapters were interesting/enlightening, but it went downhill from there. Sway was a much better read. "

" The idea of the book, embodied within the seductive title, was more interesting than the actual content of the book, which was overall lackluster for me. "

" This book was not a very exciting read, and I think would have been better as a magazine article, but I'm glad I read it anyway because it did give me some ideas for how groups can make better decisions. Surowiecki says that given the right conditions a group will make better decisions than any individual in that group. The conditions are: diversity of opinion, independence of the members from each other, decentralization; and some way to aggregate individual's opinions groups. When groups make bad decisions, one of these conditions hasn't been met. If I'm ever a manager I will solicit employee's input by email prior to having a group meeting. Because once you are in the group, various factors make it unlikely that you will hear everyone's opinion, or really be able to evaluate the different information each individual has to offer. But it is critically important for an organization to be making decisions based on the collective wisdom of the group. I think all managers should at least skim this book. "

" I was a half-dozen years late and Surowiecki was a few pennies short of the hype, but I'm glad we met. "

" funny thing about the wisdom of the crowds is that it was first discovered by Sir Francis Galton, the father of eugenics. He was trying to prove that a group of stupid people are even stupider but discovered that they were instead stunningly accurate. "

" the first half of this book dealt with the theories of how crowds make decisions and the second half took on a number of case studies. I liked the whole book but the first half was really interesting to me. There were a lot of interesting insights into what types of problems crowds are good at solving and under what circumstances. "

" The book is well written and clearly explained. The author sticks to the premise. Many fascinating discussions. "

" I can't remember the last time a book with so many interesting ideas fell down so badly when applied practically. Too many tangents and loose applications of theory. "

" the ideas were all good and interesting, but the book was too long with so many examples i lost interest in keeping track. "

" I got 75 pages in, got the point, got bored. "

" audio book, good sorta slow, overall interesting ideas that i will use for teaching "

" Some fascinating ideas in there but it was a little too business orientated to be a good general read. "

" Fascinating look at how collective wisdom can be more accurate than an individual - even an expert. Very interesting examples provided. "

" A very interesting book. If you like informative nonfiction written in a popular, easy-to-understand format, then you'll love this. "

" In the same genre as Outliers and Freakonomics, this book gets the reader to look at statistics as a living, breathing being. "

" I really enjoyed this book. I didn't agree with everything but even when I didn't it was good food for thought. The book not only includes "wisdom" of crowds but also discusses the non-wisdom, that is when crowdsourcing or group approaches break down and give bad outcomes. "

" Pretty interesting nuggets and thought provoking observations, but the premise of the book is quite self evident and on first read I may have over simplified it. Interesting to also consider the foolishness of crowds but the fact that the many can be more "correct" than the individual wins out. "

" We only think we know who we are!!! "

" samen staan we sterker, en zijn we vooral veel slimmer... "

" a provocative approach to the concept of democracy, and how much weight should be put to "the opinion" of the masses. "

" A creative look at how diversity leads to both successful and disastrous outcomes, and how a lack of cooperation, or groupthink, can cause problems. "

" This was very informative and useful to me, both personally and professionally. It seems to have made a strong impact on the Internet and makes a strong case for mass intelligence. "

" Should have known better with a comparison to Malcolm Gladwell on the front. A mildly interesting idea with some neat examples, some misquotes and distortions, and nothing much aside from anecdotal evidence. This would have worked out much better as an article rather than a book. "

" I got a copy of this book in 2005 at an office seminar where James S was the presenter. I finally read it in 2010! "

" Very interesting topic but I feel like it could have been half as long. It just dragged on a little too much for my taste. But if you find the subject extremely interesting I would recommend reading it even if it's only the first few chapters. "

" I read this a few years ago and I often think about it while stuck in traffic "

" Insightful, but not wholly convincing. An excellent read nevertheless. "

" An excellent read. Surowiecki shows how the masses are sometimes smarter than the smartest person when working together to solve problems. "

" Fascinating and engagingly written examination of why the many are smarter than the few. "

" must read for 2010 and beyond "

" Great information, but comes at a slow pace. "

" In the same genre as Outliers and Freakonomics, this book gets the reader to look at statistics as a living, breathing being. "

" Non Fiction-very interesting - stretched my mind. "