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The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations
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Sales rank 88,663
Customers rating (based on 176 reviews)
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“No one in this world, so far as I know, has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people.” —H. L. Mencken H. L. Mencken was wrong.In this endlessly fascinating book, New Yorker columnist James Surowiecki explores a deceptively simple idea that has profound implications: 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.This seemingly counterintuitive notion has endless and major ramifications for how businesses operate, how knowledge is advanced, how economies are (or should be) organized and how we live our daily lives. With seemingly boundless erudition and in delightfully clear prose, Surowiecki ranges across fields as diverse as popular culture, psychology, ant biology, economic behaviorism, artificial intelligence, military history and political theory to show just how this principle operates in the real world. Despite the sophistication of his arguments, Surowiecki presents them in a wonderfully entertaining manner. The examples he uses are all down-to-earth, surprising, and fun to ponder. Why is the line in which you’re standing always the longest? Why is it that you can buy a screw anywhere in the world and it will fit a bolt bought ten-thousand miles away? Why is network television so awful? If you had to meet someone in Paris on a specific day but had no way of contacting them, when and where would you meet? Why are there traffic jams? What’s the best way to win money on a game show? Why, when you walk into a convenience store at 2:00 A.M. to buy a quart of orange juice, is it there waiting for you? What do Hollywood mafia movies have to teach us about why corporations exist?The Wisdom of Crowds is a brilliant but accessible biography of an idea, one with important lessons for how we live our lives, select our leaders, conduct our business, and think about our world.
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| Publisher | Doubleday | | Release date | 05/2004 | | Availability | Usually ships in 24 hours | | Edition | Hardcover |
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Heeding The Herd Instinct: In The Wisdom of Crowds, the New Yorker staff writer provocatively argues that, in many circumstances, the group collectively reaches better decisions -- and solves problems more efficiently -- than the smartest man or woman alone (@ Business Week)
Group Rethink: Evidence of collective intelligence is all around us, and New Yorker writer James Surowiecki collects much of it (@ Technology Review)
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 Strange Book That States the Obviousness of Statistical Information
This book is nothing like its title suggests--it doesn't prove any type of "wisdom" in crowds. It merely reviews some stats and stories about collective wisdom and states obvious conclusions.
As intriguing as this may sound, the author gets off to the wrong start by claiming Who Wants to Be A Millionaire's audience lifeline as an example of the wisdom of crowds. It isn't--it's just an example of the fact that the more people you ask about trivia, the better chance you have of answering the question correctly.
He then makes silly conjectures based on Wall Street, presidential polls, NFL 4th down breakdowns (which has little to do with his theory since coaches don't make decisions as a group), monkeys, and other games. None of it really proves anything and is highly subjective and distorted.
He thinks the more people involved in decision-making the better. A better book would have reviewed how wrong groups can be, from race relations to Nazism to voting for bad candidates to simple group conduct in a bar on a Friday night. There is nothing in this book that proves any type of wisdom in crowds--instead it shows that if you want help with factual information, the more people you ask the better. What's the big deal about that conclusion? We already knew that!
It's worth looking at only from a curious academic standpoint. A couple questions that are raised are somewhat interesting but the author doesn't really answer them adequately. Great title, not a bad concept--just a poorly executed book.
Workers councils not bosses
So I'm convinced, groups can produce better decisions than individuals. And so our businesses should not have bosses but rather be run by workers' councils. Marx was right after all, at least on this issue.
 The Wisdom of Crowds
If you want to know why it is important to ask questions read this book. He demonstrates how the crowd often knows more than experts. If you are a leader of an organization it is a must read.
 Useful survey
A useful survey of how various groups make decisions, and the factors that can help or hinder such processes. I had hoped for more discussion on small groups that make critical decisions within a larger organization (such as the section on NASA and the Columbia mishap), but the book spends most of its time discussing markets and traffic flow."
Get a second (third, fourth, fifth...) opinion before making a critical decision
The greatest lesson I learned in business school is summed up in the statement, "Teams tend to make better decisions than individuals," - I have seen this axiom reinforced repeatedly in a variety of areas of life and work. So, it wasn't surprising to me that journalist and author James Surowiecki wrote a book titled - "Wisdom of Crowds" - which is focused on the premise that given proper circumstances, groups make better decisions than the smartest individual member. As identified by the author, the specific conditions that best facilitate this phenomenon are crowds comprised of appropriately diverse individuals who are also decentralized and independent. He further asserts that more often than not, this collection of conditions allows for sound decisions. Soundview recommends this book because its insight regarding the decision making ability of groups can be harnessed to solve difficult problems while fostering societal cooperation and coordination. Few can dispute that our economy, government and day-to-day lives are impacted by "crowd power," and Surowiecki's book helps explain that when problems occur its usually due to an absence of intelligent crowd criteria. So get a second (third, fourth and fifth) opinion before making a critical decision.
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