Comment of the Day

Ryan,
Great post. I haven’t read the book yet either, and can’t help but giggle at the irony that not only is Anderson’s book NOT free, but is going to enjoy a substantial boost from Gladwell’s rebuttal — which can be read for free on the New Yorker website (even though Gladwell’s services are undeniably not free). All this free is making me dizzy.

I suppose that Anderson would say (and probably does say in the book) that, right now, the cost of producing and distributing a book hovers well above zero, and so the argument doesn’t quite fit. Which, while true, begs the question of why he didn’t just arrange for the book to be available online for ‘free’ or only for a nominal fee (maybe $2 instead of $18 or whatever for the hard copy).

I gather that at this early stage of “free” theorizing, such pragmatic questions shouldn’t be asked — or can be asked, but can’t be answered…or whatever. The visionaries always seem to get a free pass when it comes to contradiction.

— David DiSalvo

On: Free Fallin’