This book benefited greatly from the work of researcher
Jan Tudor, of JT Research in Portland, Oregon. Many people, including a
number of qualified economists, supplied me with very helpful comments
after reading the article upon which this book is based. These readers
included Paul Romer, Paul Krugman, and George Gilder. Romer, Krugman,
John Hagel, Paul Saffo, and Michael Kremer also provided interviews to
me as well. A few other people took valuable time to read and comment on
the manuscript version: John Heilemann of The New Yorker, Russ Mitchell
of U.S. News & World Report, Peter Schwartz of Global Business
Network, and Hal Varian of the University of California, Berkeley. The
fact-checking crew at Wired magazine made significant contributions, and
as usual, saved me from embarrassment. At Viking, editor David Stanford
turned my rough draft into a smooth piece of English while copy editor
Danny Marcus further polished it to its present form. Many of the
concepts expanded here originated in long conversations with John Perry
Barlow, who was often the first to appreciate their power. John
Brockman, my literary agent, saw a book in my ideas. My wife, Gia-Miin
Fuh, sacrificed her weekends so I could write it; without that gift,
this book wouldnt have happened. Thank you, all.
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