The Wisdom of Crowds and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle. Learn more

Buy New

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
or
Amazon Prime Free Trial required. Sign up when you check out. Learn More
Buy Used
Used - Good See details
$7.13 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
Fulfilled by Amazon

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
   
Kindle Edition
Read the Kindle edition on Kindle, iPhone, iPad, Android, BlackBerry, PC and Mac.
 
   
Sell Back Your Copy
For a $1.30 Gift Card
Trade in
More Buying Choices
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
The Wisdom of Crowds
 
 
Share your own customer images
Search inside this book
Start reading The Wisdom of Crowds on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

The Wisdom of Crowds [Paperback]

James Surowiecki (Author)
3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (208 customer reviews) |
List Price: $15.95
Price: $10.85 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
You Save: $5.10 (32%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.
Want it delivered Tuesday, May 22? Choose One-Day Shipping at checkout. Details

Formats

 Amazon Price New from Used from
Kindle Edition --   $13.99 --
Hardcover --   -- --
Paperback $10.85   -- --
Audio, CD, Abridged, Audiobook --   -- --
Multimedia CD --   -- --
Audible Audio Edition, Unabridged $20.95 or Free with Audible 30-day free trial

Book Description

Publication Date: August 16, 2005
In this fascinating book, New Yorker business columnist James Surowiecki explores a deceptively simple idea: 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.

With boundless erudition and in delightfully clear prose, Surowiecki ranges across fields as diverse as popular culture, psychology, ant biology, behavioral economics, artificial intelligence, military history, and politics to show how this simple idea offers important lessons for how we live our lives, select our leaders, run our companies, and think about our world.

Frequently Bought Together

Customers buy this book with Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman Hardcover $15.00

The Wisdom of Crowds + Thinking, Fast and Slow
Price For Both: $25.85

Show availability and shipping details

  • This item: The Wisdom of Crowds by James Surowiecki Paperback

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

  • Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman Hardcover

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

While our culture generally trusts experts and distrusts the wisdom of the masses, New Yorker business columnist Surowiecki argues that "under the right circumstances, groups are remarkably intelligent, and are often smarter than the smartest people in them." To support this almost counterintuitive proposition, Surowiecki explores problems involving cognition (we're all trying to identify a correct answer), coordination (we need to synchronize our individual activities with others) and cooperation (we have to act together despite our self-interest). His rubric, then, covers a range of problems, including driving in traffic, competing on TV game shows, maximizing stock market performance, voting for political candidates, navigating busy sidewalks, tracking SARS and designing Internet search engines like Google. If four basic conditions are met, a crowd's "collective intelligence" will produce better outcomes than a small group of experts, Surowiecki says, even if members of the crowd don't know all the facts or choose, individually, to act irrationally. "Wise crowds" need (1) diversity of opinion; (2) independence of members from one another; (3) decentralization; and (4) a good method for aggregating opinions. The diversity brings in different information; independence keeps people from being swayed by a single opinion leader; people's errors balance each other out; and including all opinions guarantees that the results are "smarter" than if a single expert had been in charge. Surowiecki's style is pleasantly informal, a tactical disguise for what might otherwise be rather dense material. He offers a great introduction to applied behavioral economics and game theory.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Bookmarks Magazine

Surowiecki first developed his ideas for Wisdom of Crowds in his “Financial Page” column of The New Yorker. Many critics found his premise to be an interesting twist on the long held notion that Americans generally question the masses and eschew groupthink. “A socialist might draw some optimistic conclusions from all of this,” wrote The New York Times. “But Surowiecki’s framework is decidedly capitalist.” Some reviewers felt that the academic language and business speak decreased the impact of the argument. Still, it’s a thought-provoking, timely book: the TV studio audience of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire guesses correctly 91 percent of the time, compared to “experts” who guess only 65 percent correctly. Keep up the good work, comrades.

Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

  • Paperback: 336 pages
  • Publisher: Anchor (August 16, 2005)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0385721706
  • ISBN-13: 978-0385721707
  • Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 0.7 x 8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (208 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,243 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

More About the Author

› Visit Amazon's James Surowiecki Page
James Surowiecki
SUROWIECKI is a staff writer at The New Yorker, where he writes the popular business column, 'The Financial Page.' His work has appeared in a wide range of publications, including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Artforum, Wired, and Slate. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
392 of 432 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
The Wisdom of Crowds : Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business,Economies, Societies and Nations by James Surowiecki is, essentially, a thoroughly accessible and readable tome on applied behavioral economics and game theory.

I know that doesn't sound too exciting, but this actually is a fascinating book that is something of a page turner if you have even the most vestigial interest in the topic.

The premise isn't new-those who are denizens of Wall Street and know Robert Prechter's oft cited work with Elliott Wave Theory will know something of the underlying premises of the book. However, Surowiecki takes this notion and moves well beyond the confined world if inventing (though he covers that as well) to apply the principles he delineates to life in general-behavior in traffic, tracking and responding to disease, navigating the internet and so on.

The strength of the boom is Surowiecki's ability to render the underpinnings of his theoretical paradigm in easily understandable terms and examples. Additionally, the book features an excellent opening that provides a wonderful foundation as regards applied behavioral economics and game theory in general.

On the other hand, Surowiecki tends to play both sides of the street. He uses his "expert" position on the subject to configure his arguments and analysis to tilt the weight of evidence behind his theory in many cases. In other words, his familiarity with where he wants this to go influences his choices of examples. Moreover, he relies on too few examples in too many cases. For example, the world of wall Street should have provided a wealth of examples as to the validity-and the errors-inherent in his theory. His choices seem to be crafted to provide maximum support while eliminating any element of contraindication whatsoever.

So, in the end, despite the fact that Surowiecki has written a wonderfully readable book, and posited some fascinating theoretical axioms, the book feels a bit to tilted to be thoroughly honest with the subject matter in an applied arena. Surowiecki gives us much food for thought but also leaves us with reasons to doubt somewhat his objectivity and intellectual honesty. That fact detracts frm the value of the book, and that's a shame.

Was this review helpful to you?
271 of 297 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
In 1906, Francis Galton, known for his work on statistics and heredity, came across a weight-judging contest at the West of England Fat Stock and Poultry Exhibition. This encounter was to challenge the foundations of his life's study.

An ox was on display and for six-pence fair-goers could buy a stamped and numbered ticket, fill in their names and their guesses of the animal's weight after it had been slaughtered and dressed. The best guess received a prize.

Eight hundred people tried their luck. They were diverse. Many had no knowledge of livestock; others were butchers and farmers. In Galton's mind this was a perfect analogy for democracy. He wanted to prove the average voter was capable of very little. Yet to his surprise, when he averaged the guesses, the total came to 1197 pounds. After the ox had been slaughtered, it weighted 1198.

James Surowiecki takes Galton's counterintuitive notion and explores its ramification for business, government, science and the economy. It is a book about the world as it is. At the same time, it is a book about the world as it might be. Most of us believe that valuable nuggets of knowledge are concentrated in few minds. We believe the solution to our complex problems lies in finding the right person. When all we have to do, Surowiecki demonstrates over and over, is ask the gathered crowd.

The well-written book is divided into two parts. The first deals with theory; the second offers case studies. Believe it or not, I found it to be a page-turner. The author has that precious ability to render the complex in simple, understandable and interesting prose.

I have long been an admirer of H. L. Mencken who once wrote, "No one is this world, so far as I know, has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people."

By the time I finished this book, I believed Mencken was wrong.

Was this review helpful to you?
56 of 58 people found the following review helpful
Essential reading June 28, 2004
Format:Hardcover
This is one of the most entertaining and intellectually engaging books I've come across in a long while. Surowiecki has a gift for making complex ideas accessible, and he has a wonderful eye for the telling anecdote. His thesis about the intelligence of groups made up of diverse, independent decision-makers seems initially counterintuitive, but by the end of the book it seems almost obvious, because of all the evidence Surowiecki piles up on its behalf.

The book does cover a lot of ground in not very much space, and the pace of the argument is at times too fast. But the throughline of the argument is almost always clear, and the stories Surowiecki tells are often memorable. The chapter on NASA's mismanagement of the Columbia mission and the tale of how a man named John Craven relied on collective wisdom to find a lost submarine are especially striking.

This is one of those books that I expect people will still be talking about and referring to years or even decades from now. It's also a book that I hope will have a concrete impact on the way that people make decisions, since the implications of Surowiecki's argument are radical in the best way.

Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Doesn't know the meaning of the word "wisdom."
The author writes a book on the erroneous concept - probably because he is unable to adequately determine and correctly define "wisdom" in his concept. "The wisdom of the crowds. Read more
Published 2 days ago by Durwood M. Dugger
Better Methods, Better Results
James Surowiecki offers an engaging introduction to the broad topic of the wisdom of crowds. He provides examples and insight into why a group is often more effective than a... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Tom K.
Great Book But Read With Caution
I enjoyed The Wisdom of Crowds. I found the book to be well researched and well written. While the arguments for crowd wisdom can often be very complex, Surowiecki presents them... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Michael Gooch
Interesting but redundant
The book was good and had some very interesting points. However, towards the end of the book the ideas seemed to repeat themselves and become difficult to finish
Published 3 months ago by jimmmyj
Patently Absurd!
This 2005 book contends that group decisions by large numbers of diverse people are often better than could have been made by any single member of the group. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Loyd E. Eskildson
Missing pages
Beware! This is a good book but there are 32 pages missing starting on page 68 rendering it almost useless! Found out too late to return.
Published 5 months ago by John Hopkins
Good insights in a short, readable book
This book is a game-changer -- or at least it should be. The basic concept is that decisions can be made more intelligently by a group of independent individuals. Read more
Published 6 months ago by J. Rakowski
Kindle price higher than book - will buy from abebooks for $4
Kindle pricing ebook issue.
I can buy from abebooks used as a real book and will do so. I will not pay more for an ebook than the real thing.
Published 7 months ago by logical
Smarter than a 5th grader? Maybe not a crowd of 5th graders!
Here's a question--Who's smarter than any CEO? Answer--the marketplace. So, does that make product development a crap shoot? Hardly. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Stephen D. Gladis
Playing to the crowd but fundamentally unwise reasoning
The central idea in this popular and award winning book is, at first sight, appealing: "... under the right circumstances, groups are remarkably intelligent, and are often smarter... Read more
Published 10 months ago by Phillip A. Towndrow
Search Customer Reviews
Only search this product's reviews
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Surprise Me!
Search Inside This Book:
Inside This Book (learn more)
Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Surprise Me!
Search Inside This Book:
Citations (learn more)
73 books cite this book:
See all 73 books citing this book

What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?

› Explore similar items

Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
 
(44)
(33)
(31)
(30)
(27)
(23)
(21)
(17)
(13)
(9)
Agree with these tags?
See all 95 tags...

Your tags: Add your first tag
 
See most popular tags

Customer Discussions

This product's forum
› See all 2 discussions...  
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
   
Related forums

So You'd Like to...

Create a guide

Look for Similar Items by Category

Look for Similar Items by Subject

Search Books by subject:













i.e., each book must be in subject 1 AND subject 2 AND ...