Customer Reviews

The Pebble and the Avalanche: How Taking Things Apart Creates Revolutions

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I thought that without an engineering or business background that I might not "get" this book. Wrong! Dr. Yudkowsky writes as a master teacher. He reviews concepts and outlines chapters to make this most intelligible and provides clear, entertaining examples. As a family systems therapist, I found it a brilliant treatment of systems, the ultimate metaphor for what happens to all of us as we grow up and move on in life. That complex organism we call the family naturally disaggregates and evolves as children leave home, evolve, raise children, and inevitably modify the culture of the family of origin, or "parent company". This should be required reading for all sociologists and mental health professionals, and obviously for anyone who intends to go corporate in the business world.

I loved this book...the ideas Yudkowsky presents really got me thinking about how social and organizational decisions can have such a serious impact on how technologies succeed or fail,and what impact technology has on the quality of our lives. The topics in some of the chapters have also sparked some very interesting conversations at the office (I work in the technology lab of a big management consulting firm)...which is always fun!

Moshe Yudkowsky proposes a thought-provoking premise: Breaking entities apart causes more progress and development than building them does. As this is the opposite of conventional thought, it is remarkable how well he is able to illustrate and defend the view in these few chapters. Using the breakup of AT&T as a primary - but far from the only - example, he shows how increased competition foments innovation.

This book will appeal to anyone with an interest in business management, government or history. It should probably be a must-read for students of all of those disciplines.

This is a really wonderful read. The book manages to pack a rather impressive amount of material backing up a solid thesis into a relatively short, readable, and *enjoyable* form. Even though I never expect to do anything from the management/business side of managing disaggregation, the paradigm Yudkowsky presents provides an excellent framework for assessing changes in technology and society. Furthermore, in just a few days I've already come up with dozens of possible applications to my own interests and work, and I'm currently using the ideas in the book to sort through how I can apply these ideas.

A highly recommended read.

This is a book well worth reading. it's written clearly and concisely and gives the reader plenty of food for thought. How do things happen the way they do? Read the book!!!

Moshe Yudkowsky presents an interesting comcept in disaggregation as a management tool to get more energy out of the whole organization rather the pooling it together. He brings in good examples that bring his ideas to full growth.

This book is a good book for management professionals, Owners and operators of large and small business, and anyone interest in the concept of disaggregation.

Moshe Yudkowsky's The Pebble And The Avalanche: How Taking Things Apart Creates Revolutions discusses the dynamic of 'disaggregation', in which changing industries rely on changing established structures and routines for modern advantage. From separating information from its storage medium (as in downloading data from the Web) to breaking up large company structures for better service and more clearly defined products, The Pebble And The Avalanche examines how disaggregation works: the five methods used to take things part, and how this can generate new innovations and business options.

I am an avid reader of both fiction and nonfiction. Interesting topic with cleverly communicated ideas. Thumbs up!

Thank you Moshe Yudkowsky for providing an innovative approach to . . . innovation. The Pebble and the Avalanche gives readers a new and exciting view of and approach to finding new products, systems and processes in their business. Not only did this book give me new tools to use for innovation, it inspired me to find new approaches to the challenges in my own business.

A genius sees an ordinary events and formulates an extraordinary theory. An engineer applies theory into practical business. An educator explains profound thoughts with simple language. Dr. Moshe Yudkowsky is all of the above.

The book, The Pebble and The Avalanche, is brilliant. The theory even applies to China, from the huge tight boulder-like society into pebbles of entrepreneurs. We can all feel the energy that released from the phenomena that Dr. Yudkowsky described in the book. A must read for anyone from the high tech, high society to the emerging entrepreneurs.