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Create Your Own Economy: The Path to Prosperity in a Disordered World Hardcover – July 9, 2009

by Tyler Cowen (Author)

32 customer reviews

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An economics professor and author describes how the World Wide Web is changing the way our minds work, and provides a guide to the coming world of Web 3.0, where social networking and Tweeting will improve education and enrich lives.

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this provocative study of behavioral economics, Cowen (Discover Your Inner Economist) reveals that autistic tendencies toward classification, categorization and specialization can be used as a vehicle for understanding how people use information. Cowen spends a great deal of time dispelling autism's societal stigma, arguing that mainstream society is reaping benefits from mimicking autistic cognitive strengths. As stimulating as is the premise, the book often feels like its own long exercise in categorization, with each chapter an analysis of the human mania for classification (e.g., the obsession with ranking achievements and endeavors). According to Cowen, human brains are constantly absorbing bits of information that get smaller and are delivered faster as technology advances. The more information people receive, the more they crave—this shorter attention span is far from a flaw to the author, but a liberating mechanism that allows humans time to contemplate more ambitious, long-range pursuits. The relentless analysis is occasionally overwhelming, but Cowen's illustration of our neurological filing system may help readers understand the mass consumption of information and just about everything else. (July)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author

Tyler Cowen is a professor of economics at George Mason University. He is a prominent blogger at marginalrevolution.com, the world’s leading economics blog. He also writes regularly for The New York Times, and has written for Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, and The Wilson Quarterly.

Hardcover: 272 pages
Publisher: Dutton; 1st edition (July 9, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0525951237
ISBN-13: 978-0525951230
Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 1.2 x 6 inches
Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
Average Customer Review: 32 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,458,608 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #618 in Books > Business & Money > Management & Leadership > Planning & Forecasting
- #6673 in Books > Deals in Books
- #9655 in Books > Science & Math > Technology

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Greg Linster

A Cultural Defense of Autism, or Something Like That

August 8, 2013

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

According to Tyler Cowen, it's a great time to be alive. And who could disagree with that? Thanks to the digital economy we have more choices when it comes to what to consume and what to do for our work (although others like Barry Schwartz have argued that perhaps we have too many choices now). Anyway, Cowen's book, Create Your Own Economy, is largely about how to navigate this new world and the digital economy.

The book, however, veered wildly from what I expected. The following quote from the preface is what I thought the book would be about.

In down times people exercise more, eat out less and cook more, and engage in more projects for self improvement and self education. Usage at public libraries is up and people are spending more time on the internet; once you've paid for your connection most of the surfing is free. These trends are more important than most of us realize and in this book I will tell you why. I will tell you why they are not just short-run trends but why they presage something much deeper about our future.

The book surely takes an interesting twist from the preface though. At the beginning of the first chapter, Cowen, who runs a popular economics blog called Marginal Revolution, states that a Marginal Revolution reader once asked him if he had Asperger's syndrome or high-functioning autism.

This question relates to one of the surprising, yet central themes of the book, i.e., autism. In one sense, the book can be read as a cultural defense of autism and with a focus on the general misconceptions about autism. I definitely wasn't expecting to read a book focused on autism when I picked this book up; however, I still enjoyed it. Cowen claims that autism is not a separate condition out there from which a few suffer, but rather it's one point on a scale he calls "neurodiversity". We all fall on this scale to varying degrees and I was surprised to learn that I actually have some autistic like tendencies. Near the end of the book, Cowen states, "Many autistics might in fact do better socially or in their careers if the world views them as "eccentrics" rather than autistics."

The other central theme of the book can be summed up by the claim that," Fundamentally the relationship between human minds and human cultures is changing." Cowen never uses the term, but he alludes to a world that is becoming a culturally predominant information economy. "Creating your own economy", then, is about thriving in the world of the internet and modern technology. The diversity of informational and cultural products available via technology is startling. Cowen, however, argues that this is a great thing that ultimately enhances our freedom and our experiences of being human. Of course, he also argues that the cognitive strengths of autistic individuals allow them to thrive in this environment.

This book touches on a wide gamut of topics from economics, psychology, metaphysics, epistemology, moral philosophy, and astronomy. The end of the book leaves you with an ambiguous sense of the book's ultimate purpose.

4 people found this helpful

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Troy Camplin

Not What You Would Expect--It's Better

July 7, 2017

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

This is a great book about what it's like to be on the autism spectrum. I should know, since I'm on the spectrum myself. But it's also more than that. Much more. And it's worth reading to learn about being on the spectrum and to learn about how you can change your world.

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Ninakix

Not what I expected, but still fascinating.

August 10, 2010

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

This book was interesting, but I was pretty disappointed when about halfway through the book I realized the book had trailed off from the topics that had been most interesting to me - how we begin to organize and understand information in the context of our relatively new access to information. I expected a little more depth and detail into what "mental ordering" might actually look like, and different examples of ordinary people undertaking this activity. Instead, this book focuses on autism and neurodiversity, and Cowen definitely covered the topic with flair, discussing how autistics processing of information leads to different outcomes. I guess, in a way, I walked away having learned more, just because the topic was completely unexpected.

4 people found this helpful

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bovaxty

Contents don't reflect title.

April 7, 2016

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

Offers no tangible advice for creating one's own economy. If anything, advises adapting oneself to status quo economy. Very bait and switch. Also, author's speculations about autistic people are so far off base as to be risible.

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Paul Sas

A Mephistophelian Defense of the Current Trend in Curating Info

August 26, 2009

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

This is the second consecutive book of Tyler's that I've pre-ordered on Amazon, and I think it is even better than his last book. The unifying themes seem to mystify many who attempt a description of the wide ranging coverage, but I'd hazard a summary thus: 1- Neurodiversity, with particular attention to the Asperger continuum, suggests that many cognitive styles come with special advantages; while there's no exact description of what characterizes Asperger-ish styles, the tendency to generate an order on some specialized domain is key. 2- From the vantage of interiority, the subjective experience of feasting on information, there's a huge win today in the generation of nuggets mined and distilled to brief moments. 3- With great compassion and equanimity, Tyler advocates a kinder re-assessment of the drift toward info-gluttony (he uses the term 'infovore', although I wish he had adopted George Miller's older neologism 'informavore'). For those seeking more information about how an Asperger mind perceives the world, read Daniel Tammett's new book, Embracing the Wide Sky: A Tour Across the Horizons of the Mind.

7 people found this helpful

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Adam Thierer

terrific look at how humans can and are coping with life in the Information Age

August 24, 2009

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

A terrific exploration of how humans can and are coping with the Digital Age and the rise of information abundance in particular. Cowen takes an optimistic view of these changes and suggests that, even if the Internet and digital gadgets are changing our culture and minds, it is generally for the better. Although the book wanders at times, Cowen is always entertaining and informative.

If you like this book and Cowen's general worldview, you'll also want to check out Clay Shirky's "Here Comes Everybody" as well as the work of Don Tapscott, Chris Anderson, and perhaps even Yochai Benkler. For a contrasting view, I recommend Andrew Keen's "Cult of the Amateur," Lee Siegel's "Against the Machine," and John Freeman's upcoming "Tyranny of E-Mail."

2 people found this helpful

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Dave Barnes

Should have been a Tweet

June 1, 2011

Verified Purchase

This entire book could have been condensed to a Tweet.
Embrace your autistic side and bring order to your life.

What a waste of $3.65.
I visit Tyler's blog every day and find it very useful and insightful.
This book, however, should never have been published.

9 people found this helpful

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