Next: The Future Just Happened

Next: The Future Just Happened With his knowing eye and wicked pen, Michael Lewis reveals how the Internet boom has encouraged changes in the way we live, work, and think. In the midst of one of the greatest status revolutions in the history of the world, the Internet has become a weapon in the hands of revolutionaries. Old priesthoods are crumbling. In the new order, the amateur is king: fourteen-year-olds manipulate the stock market and nineteen-year-olds take down the music industry. Unseen forces undermine all forms of collectivism, from the family to the mass market: one black box has the power to end television as we know it, and another one may dictate significant changes in our practice of democracy. With a new afterword by the author. " C]onsistently smart, and its highpoints are among the high points of Lewis' writing life."-"New York Observer" "Next does not come too late to the crash-and-burn Internet book fest. It come just in time-at the speed of a falling safe."-"USA Today"

Editorial Reviews

  From Publishers Weekly

utting an engaging and irreverent spin on yesterday's news, Lewis (Liar's Poker; The New, New Thing) declares that power and prestige are up for grabs in this look at how the Internet has changed the way we live and work. Probing how Web-enabled players have exploited the fuzzy boundary between reality and perception, he visits three teenagers who have assumed startling roles: Jonathan Lebed, the 15-year-old New Jersey high school student who made headlines when he netted $800,000 as a day trader and became the youngest person ever accused of stock-market fraud by the SEC; Markus Arnold, the 15-year-old son of immigrants from Belize who edged out numerous seasoned lawyers to become the number three legal expert on AskMe.com; and Daniel Sheldon, a British 14-year-old ringleader in the music-file-sharing movement. Putting himself on the line, Lewis is freshest in his reportage, though he doesn't pierce the deeper cultural questions raised by the kids' behavior. As a financial reporter tracing the development of innovative industries like black box interactive television and interactive political polling from their beginnings as Internet brainstorms, Lewis reminds readers that the twin American instincts to democratize and commercialize intertwine on the Internet, and can only lead to new business. In the past, Lewis implies, industry insiders would simply have shut out eager upstarts, yet today insiders, like AOL Time Warner, allow themselves "to be attacked in order to later co-opt their most ferocious attackers and their best ideas." (July 30)Forecast: Lewis's track record, a major media campaign and a 12-city author tour through techie outposts will make this hard to ignore. As a breezy summer read, it's fun enough, but those looking for profound business insights will be disappointed.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

  Review

A wake-up call at a time when many believe the net was a flash in the pan. -- BusinessWeek

[C]onsistently smart, and its highpoints are among the high points of Lewis' writing life. -- New York Observer

  From the Inside Flap

Read by The Author
Four CD's


In LIAR'S POKER barbarians seized control of the bond markets. In THE NEW NEW THING some guys from Silicon Valley redefined the American economy. Now, with his knowing eye and wicked pen, Michael Lewis reveals how the Internet boom has encouraged great change in the way we live, work, and think. He finds that we are in the midst of one of the greatest revolutions in the history of the world, and the Internet is a weapon in the hands of revolutionaries. The old priesthoods-lawyers, investment gurus, professionals in general-have been toppled. The amateur, or individual, is king: fourteen-year-old children manipulate the stock market; nineteen-year-old take down the music industry; and wrestlers get elected to public office. Deep, unseen forces seek to undermine all forms of collectivism, from the mass market to the family. Where does it all lead? And will we like where we end up? --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

  About the Author

Michael Lewis, the best-selling author of Liar’s Poker, The Money Culture, The New New Thing, Moneyball, The Blind Side, Panic, Home Game, The Big Short, and Boomerang, among other works, lives in Berkeley, California, with his wife and three children.

  From Audio File

Bestselling writer Michael Lewis is here to tell you in his own voice--Northeastern elite, with just a touch of his New Orleans boyhood--that there's a technological revolution going on. A 15-year-old boy using the Internet became the first minor ever charged with stock market fraud. Furthermore, he got to keep $550,000. Still don't believe the rules are changing? What about TiVo, the black box that allows you to skip all the commercials? Will a similar gadget soon settle national issues with immediate electronic referendums? Lewis reads his own inspired reports with passion and conviction. When he confronts SEC chairman Arthur Levitt, he's right there, in the moment. And so are you. B.H.C. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.