Very important book on the topic of what does it mean when computer algorithms start watching and interpreting almost everything we do. Everyone should read it who has an interest in the Internet, privacy, or the future of our civilization (and who is not included in that list?)

Want to know why all your liberal friends lost their marbles when Trump won? Want to know why us Bernie people living in "red" states saw this coming for months? You live in a filter bubble. Read this book and break out of your own personal filter bubble to see what is really going on in the world.

There is a lot of stuffing in this book. There is a good amount of information on current personalization of the web but the author delves into the backgrounds of pioneers of this technology, character profiles on the "type" of person that creates this code, possible futures of personalization and so on. There is a lot of subjective interpretation when it comes to the history and future of this technology.
That being said I do feel a lot more educated on the topic after reading the book. The narrative is smooth and easy to read and even his interpretative predictions on the future of this technology are easy to imagine based on the foundation he creates for his argument.I will no longer roll my eyes when someone talks about how invasive personalization will someday be in our culture.

This book validates the Necro Enema Amalgamated proverb: "Interactivity is a Lie!"

Just finished reading this for the second time. While some of the references are slightly dated (inevitable when writing about contemporary info culture) this tome points to an essential (and missing) aspect of media literacy. Teachers, grade school students, all, should be aware of the premises and insights within. Your data exhaust is one of your most valuable assets.

Most of us who are perceptive already kind of know about the Bubble each of us gets in on the Internet (each person seeing a reflection of what the Internet agents like Google think you want to see), but this takes it to a whole new level of understanding. This is a must read for anybody who wants to know where our world is headed, especially if you're involved in marketing and communicating anything on the Internet. The author's grasp of and knowledge of what's going on is impressive. And it's scary. He illuminates the infrastructure of companies and technologies which are recording everything we do online and selling it to the highest bidder. And then then technologies that are used to shape the world we see in terms of what's trending, what's important, and also how you interpret events and trends as the gatekeepers decide which version of the facts and commentary we see. And some of the emerging trends such as personalizing headlines in major publications, and nuances of so many other things is staggering.

The author also gives his opinion on what this means across a host of environments such as politics, news, entertainment, education, etc. Just wait for the next election!

The book started to become a little repetitive about 2/3 of the way in, and then at the end, as in so many books, really failed to engage me in a solution. I think because the solution is so obvious, but so difficult....get more people involved, the idea being that there are hundreds of millions of us regular people whereas most of the benefit of the direction of this trend is towards the rich and powerful and we need to to work together on this because Internet policies are more set in the stone and the key players get even more powerful. Unfortunately I know from personal experience that this is almost impossible. Best described by my favorite quote from Rolling Stone magazine - "Organized greed is more effective than disorganized democracy". I'm an ex-activist because I just had to stop because of the frustration of it. The business world is at least 1000x more efficient and focused. Nothing will change that it seems. I used to believe we could change it, but unfortunately I don't anymore Although I'll keep trying somehow to stay involved with those who continue to try.

Despite all this, a must read.