About this item
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A potent exploration of the power of blockchains to reshape the future of the internet—and how that affects us all—from influential technology entrepreneur and startup investor Chris Dixon “A must for anyone who wants to better understand the real potential of blockchains and web3.”—Robert Iger, CEO, Disney “A compelling vision of where the internet should go and how to get there.”—Sam Altman, co-founder, OpenAIThe internet of today is a far cry from its early promise of a decentralized, democratic network of innovation, connection, and freedom. In the past decade, it has fallen almost entirely under the control of a very small group of companies like Apple, Google, and Facebook. In Read Write Own, tech visionary Chris Dixon argues that the dream of an open network for fostering creativity and entrepreneurship doesn’t have to die and can, in fact, be saved with blockchain networks. He separates this movement, which aims to provide a solid foundation for everything from social networks to artificial intelligence to virtual worlds, from cryptocurrency speculation—a distinction he calls “the computer vs. the casino.” With lucid and compelling prose—drawing from a twenty-five-year career in the software industry—Dixon shows how the internet has undergone three distinct eras, bringing us to the critical moment we’re in today. The first was the “read” era, in which early networks democratized information. In the “read-write” era, corporate networks democratized publishing. We are now in the midst of the “read-write-own” era, sometimes called web3, in which blockchain networks are granting power and economic benefits to communities of users, not just corporations. Read Write Own is a must-read for anyone—internet users, business leaders, creators, entrepreneurs—who wants to understand where we’ve been and where we’re going. It provides a vision for a better internet and a playbook to navigate and build the future.
About the Author
Chris Dixon is a senior writer for and the founding online editor of Surfer magazine. His writing and reporting regularly appears in titles as diverse as The New York Times, Garden & Gun, Outside, The Surfer's Journal, Popular Mechanics and Men's Journal.Bookwise, Chris is the author of the book Ghost Wave, the Discovery of Cortes Bank and the Biggest Wave on Earth. He is a contributing author to Taschen's newly published Surfing: 1778-Today, and is a contributing writer to New York Times Bestselling works, The Southerner's Handbook, and 36 Hours: 150 Weekends in the USA & Canada, from the editors of The New York Times. His writing also appears in the anthology, The Big Juice: Epic Tales of Big Wave Surfing. His next ocean-related book will be published by Chronicle Books in 2017. More of his work can be seen at his online portfoliohttp://chrisdixonreports.comand http://thescuttlefish.com
