The Big Switch: Rewiring the World, from Edison to Google

by Nicholas Carr

Overview

“Magisterial…Draws an elegant and illuminating parallel between the late-19th-century electrification of America and today’s computing world.” —Salon

Hailed as “the most influential book so far on the cloud computing movement” (Christian Science Monitor), The Big Switch makes a simple and profound statement: Computing is turning into a utility, and the effects of this transition will ultimately change society as completely as the advent of cheap electricity did. In a new chapter for this edition that brings the story up-to-date, Nicholas Carr revisits the dramatic new world being conjured from the circuits of the “World Wide Computer.”

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393067873
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	01/19/2009
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	304
File size:	475 KB

About the Author

Nicholas Carr is the author of The Shallows, a Pulitzer Prize finalist, and five other acclaimed books. A former executive editor of the Harvard Business Review, he writes for the Atlantic, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal. He lives in Oregon.

Table of Contents

Prologue: A Doorway in Boston 1

Part 1 One Machine

1 Burden's Wheel 9

2 The Inventor and His Clerk 25

3 Digital Millwork 45

4 Goodbye, Mr. Gates 63

5 The White City 85

Part 2 Living in the Cloud

6 World Wide Computer 107

7 From the Many to the Few 127

8 The Great Unbundling 149

9 Fighting the Net 169

10 A Spider's Web 185

11 iGod 211

Epilogue: Flame and Filament 231

Appendix The Cloud 20 235

Notes 245

Acknowledgments 271

Index 273

Editorial Reviews

Future Shock for the Web-apps era. . . . Compulsively readable—for nontechies, too—as it compellingly weaves together news stories, anecdotes, and data.— Fast Company

The best read so far about the significance of the shift to cloud computing.— Financial Times

Mr. Carr’s provocations are destined to influence CEOs and the boards and investors that support them as companies grapple with the constant change of the digital age.— Wall Street Journal

From the Publisher

With the rise of Silicon Valley, pundits heralded the advent of "the computer revolution." But, according to former Harvard Business Review executive editor Nicholas Carr, you ain't seen nothing yet. In this persuasive, eye-opening book, Carr argues that we are experiencing changes in business and society as profound and stunning as the transformations of the early industrial age. He contends that cheap computing is enabling users to dismantle their private systems and tap the rich services available on the Internet.