[.ca] The Internet Galaxy: Reflections on the Internet, ... (ISBN 0199255776)

Whitewater Review:
I found this book to be very informative for those that don't know much about the internet, but for those with knowledge about the internet i would not suggest this books. Castell makes some very good points, but they are over shadowed by how repetitive his writing style is. The best chapter in this book is on e-business, he very hit a homerun with this chapter. Although for the most part this book didn't teach me much that i did not already know about the internet. The last three chapter of this book could have easily been left out to save readers for repetitive writing. Overall, I feel this book is appropriate for new users of the internet, but for those that have a working knowledge of the internet I would not suggest this book.

Too Much Redundant Info and in need of a serious update:
I felt like Castell's book was a bit dry and in need of some serious updating. Since the first version of this book came out 2001, a great deal has changed with the Internet. A lot of the information is common knowledge now. Although there was a great amount of detail, it seemed redundant and obvious. The chapters on the creation of the Internet and it's history were the most painful to read through (chapter 1-2). The information on how the Internet is used appropriately (chapter 3 on e-business) and how it is misused were interesting (ie people misrepresenting themselves in chat rooms, chap. 4 and 6). The fact that the geography reaches many different people in different countries was definitely not needed. This is just one example of common knowledge. The fact that communication may be going down hill in the fact that more people communicate now through e-mail rather than merely speaking to one another is another observation, thanks to Captain Obvious, Castells. As I stated previously, I would be interested in seeing an updated version of this book and a comparision of how things have changed since this book was first written. Out of 5 stars, I would give it 1 1/2, at best.

The Internet Galaxy by Manuel Castells:
This was a requirement for a graduate course I recently took. Basically, I think this book was very uninteresting to read and I would not recommend it to others. At any point in a college degree, I think 90% of the information Mr. Castells provides is elementary. Most students know a lot of this information coming into college, much less this late in our college career. There were only a select number of things that I did not know previously, none of which will be beneficial to my degree or career. Furthermore, I also think Mr. Castells's writing was very dry and repetitious, which made it even harder to read. Overall, there were very few benefits to reading this book and many downfalls.

Average:
I would recommend the Internet Galaxy to a person who is conducting or going to conduct a research about the Internet because the author provides tons of information in depth which could be a good background for that person. This could be a huge source of reference as well. Some chapter is interesting such as the Culture of the Internet that let us know more about the characteristic of network society (some context you can just skip it). Some chapter is up to date and it may refer to the current issue such as Digital Divide or is the Internet the end of privacy? You may find an answer here. Some chapter is too redundant and not necessary to know for some students. For someone who is really interested in what the Internet impacts us, this book could raise some points for you to further think or question about. However, if you just want to know superficially what the Internet is or what it is used nowadays I suggest to find another easy-reading Internet dummy book.

A bunch of common sense:
After reading through Internet Galaxy by Manuel Castells all I got out of it was some fancy lingo. There are so many new tech terms in this book that it was hard to understand at times. I am sure that this is great research and it is a well written book, but I got very little out of it. For the most part it was common sense and repetitive. If I were looking for something to put me to sleep or new nothing about the internet I would read this book.