Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations Audiobook [Free Download by Trial]
Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations
The readers can download Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations Audiobook for free via Audible Free Trial.
Summary
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.
The audiobook is quite engaging, but it does suffer from being dated, considering the significant events that have occurred since its original publication in 2005, particularly when comparing it to the present year of 2013. The financial crisis and stock market crash have undoubtedly cast doubt on the author's claims about the superiority of group performance over individual efforts.
Given the outdated nature of the book and the advancements in technology, I would not recommend using a credit to purchase it today. However, I do appreciate the author's central idea that groups can surpass individuals in certain situations. Nevertheless, if the author were to revise the narrative to incorporate recent historical events and the latest technological innovations, it would greatly enhance the book's relevance.
Fortunately, the narrator of this audiobook is one of my favorites, and his skillful delivery will make it enjoyable to listen to the entire book, despite the outdated elements in the story.
The book is quite intriguing because its premise is difficult to believe. However, I personally find it hard to believe because I believe it is not true. One of the primary illustrations used is the comparison between the audience lifeline on the Millionaire TV show and the phone-a-friend lifeline. I've been observing the show for a while now in order to investigate this, and I find the author's reasoning to be very flimsy because he is comparing two things that are completely different. Usually, contestants opt for the audience lifeline first, utilizing it for easier questions that are not comparable to the more challenging questions they save their other lifelines for later in the game. It is extremely rare for individuals to exhaust both lifelines on the same question, mainly due to lack of trust in the lifeline. In the few instances where this has occurred, the audience has been proven wrong. Furthermore, the audience tends to be reliable for questions related to pop culture, such as those concerning Britney Spears's baby, while the phone-a-friend option is best for questions that can be quickly searched on the internet or looked up in a dictionary (although some contestants fail to grasp this concept). Without controlling for these various factors, the author's conclusions hold no significant meaning. I was able to verify this by simply watching the show. As for the other examples involving lost submarines and such, I cannot personally validate them, but if the reasoning behind those examples is as weak as with this one, it suggests that the entire book may be flawed.
The book contains a plethora of facts that are definitely worth taking into consideration. Personally, I found it to be decent, although not outstanding. However, I wouldn't mind purchasing another book that explores similar principles.
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