![]() Aral does not shy away from building a useful abstract framework in which to place all this, and to address the complex issues raised as a result. And, while a large proportion of the book simply communicates information on where things stand and how different social media platforms are shaping the lives of their users, Prof. Overall, the book is an easy read that informs and educates the reader without getting mired in technical jargon – no mean feat for a book about a technical field that is rife with jargon. The book is very well-organized, and the logical flow – both across and within chapters – is remarkably smooth. For anyone looking for a single, accessibly non-technical source of information and insight on these important issues, this book is essential reading. The book provides an excellent overview of where things stand with social media, its promise and its peril. This is what he sets out to do in his new book, The Hype Machine, published under the Currency Imprint of Random House this September, and with considerable success. Aral is the perfect person to look at how this phenomenon has changed the world and the human experience. As one of the world’s foremost experts on social media and its effects, Prof. The author is the David Austin Professor of Management and Professor of Information Technology and Marketing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Who can honestly worry about the crisis in publishing or fret over Amazon’s plans for global domination when Knopf is happy to throw $2 million at the wall to see if it sticks? Plus ca change.Given where we find ourselves in this late November of 2020, it is hard to think of a book more relevant or timely than The Hype Machine by Sinan Aral. I hope no one runs out of breath before then. And not too … you know, non-white.Īnd City on Fire, all 900 pages of it, is now going to go into hibernation until 2015, according to The Guardian, while Hallberg concentrates on “fine-tuning” it. Someone you can pour buckets of money over without having to answer too many awkward questions from the board. ![]() Someone for your publicity machine to hyperventilate over. Someone who brings back that Bonfire of the Vanities buzz without having to be Tom Wolfe. ![]() (So reminiscent of The Corrections.) Someone who writes about North Americans. Someone who writes books with titles like A Field Guide to the North American Family. That said, an awful lot of people appear to have an interest in having something like him around. He has a proven pedigree in shorter fiction writing. All I need to do is bone up on Hallberg.ĭisclaimer: Hallberg may actually be a very good writer he may even transcend all the hype. And that saves me having to worry about my homework next time I want to drop in on a London publishing conversation. ![]() There, I’ve done the blurb writer’s job for him. “You can feel people like Don DeLillo, James Baldwin, Tom Wolfe and Patti Smith animating the writing” – Alex Bowler, Hallberg’s UK editor “ the only thing people are talking about in the industry … It’s a distillation of great American writing,” he said. It has a richness to it, and that was really what I responded to almost immediately” – Sonny Mehta, chairman and editor in chief at Knopf “It’s a large, spacious and extremely ambitious novel. Some choice quotes from the NYT and Guardian coverage on Hallberg and his debut novel: “Off the charts in its ambition, its powers of observation, its ability to be at once intellectual and emotionally generous” – Diana Miller, editor at Knopf Oh, I do hope they’re not taking too much of a … you know … risk? Because Knopf and Jonathan Cape already have, paying respectively $2 million and a “a substantial six-figure deal” for his first full novel, the 900-page City on Fire. The race to be the next Jonathan Franzen thunders on, with Garth Risk Hallberg a shoo-in for that coveted Time Magazine front cover “Great American Novelist” position. ![]()
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