[p2p-research] top ten p2p books of 2011

[Michel Bauwens]

via http://p2pfoundation.net/Ten_Best_P2P_Books_of_2010

a sligthly modified version of this will be published on January 4, so there
is still time for suggestions,

any glaring omissions?

Michel

This year, the crop of books on p2p related themes has been so overwhelming
that I find it impossible to limit myself to the classic list of just ten
books. I therefore have organized the list as a series of 10 clustered
themes. The order of the listing is influenced by the quality of the book
(either read by myself, by people I trust, or through general
recommendation) and the importance of the broad theme they are addressing.


 [edit<http://p2pfoundation.net/Ten_Best_P2P_Books_of_2010?title=Ten_Best_P2P_Books_of_2010&action=edit&section=2>
] The List [edit<http://p2pfoundation.net/Ten_Best_P2P_Books_of_2010?title=Ten_Best_P2P_Books_of_2010&action=edit&section=3>
] 1. The Theory and Practice of the P2P Counter-Economy

Marvin Brown's book is simply the most important book I have read this year,
for its reconceptualisation of how to view the economy, no longer as an
economics of property where labour, land and money are seen as commodities
themselves, but as an economics of provisioning where those three inputs are
seen as subjects (labour and nature), and as 'commons'. It's weak on how to
get there, but it's important to know that's where we need to get. By
contrast, the equally important book by Kevin Carson is really all about,
how do we get there, and examines in detail the transition to an economy
that combines relocalized distributed manufacturing with global open design
communities.


1. A. Civilizing the Economy<http://p2pfoundation.net/Civilizing_the_Economy>.
A new economics of provision. Marvin T. Brown. Cambridge University Press,
2010

1.B. The Homebrew Industrial
Revolution<http://p2pfoundation.net/Homebrew_Industrial_Revolution>:
A Low-Overhead Manifesto. By Kevin Carson.


 [edit<http://p2pfoundation.net/Ten_Best_P2P_Books_of_2010?title=Ten_Best_P2P_Books_of_2010&action=edit&section=4>
] 2. The New Forms of globalized P2P Governance and Enterprise

The David Ugarte / Las Indias trilogy consists of a history of respectively
enterprise forms, governance forms, and network forms, each culminating in
the distributed format era, and which have recently been translated in
English. But in this context our primary attention should go to this key
book:

2.A. Phyles: Economic Democracy in the Network
Century<http://p2pfoundation.net/Economic_Democracy_in_the_Network_Century>.
by David de Ugarte

David de Ugarte and the colleagues at lasindias.net fill in the missing
piece of one of the more important ingredients of a new globalized
infrastructure of value creation, by highlighting the importance of the
concept and practice of the Phyle, a transnational value community linked to
enterpreneurial entities that have as primary aim the creation of
sustainability of the new value communities.


 [edit<http://p2pfoundation.net/Ten_Best_P2P_Books_of_2010?title=Ten_Best_P2P_Books_of_2010&action=edit&section=5>
] 3.The New Forms of Sharing and Collaboration in the Economy

Shared consumption is just as important as shared production, and both
Rachel and Lisa have uncovered the new landscape of shareable use of goods
and infrastructures.

3.A. What’s Mine is Yours: The Rise of Collaborative
Consumption<http://p2pfoundation.net/Rise_of_Collaborative_Consumption>,
by Rachel Botsman and Roo Rogers (Fall, HarperCollins), 2010

3.B. The Mesh <http://p2pfoundation.net/Mesh>: Why the Future of Business is
Sharing. By Lisa Gansky. Portfolio / Penguin Group, FALL 2010

Special mention for the way this book was collaborative produced:

Collaborative Futures. Floss Manuals, 2010.


 [edit<http://p2pfoundation.net/Ten_Best_P2P_Books_of_2010?title=Ten_Best_P2P_Books_of_2010&action=edit&section=6>
] 4.Logics of Natural and Cultural Abundance against the artificial
engineering of scarcity

While we are waiting for the more theoretically grounded work in the
upcoming book of Roberto Verzola, these two books do the groundwork of
popularising this very important idea, that while there are objective
'scarcities' in the natural world, most of those we experience are actually
manufactured by the existing global system. People go hungry not because
there is not enough food, but because of the way, food production is
currently organized, while the natural abundance of natural cycles is
destroyed through terminator seeds, and cultural, scientific and even
commercial innovation is impeded and slowed down through patents and IP.


4.A. Plenitude <http://p2pfoundation.net/Plenitude>: The New Economics of
True Wealth. By Juliet B. Schor. Penguin, 2010

4.B. Wolfgang Hoeschele. The Economics of
Abundance<http://p2pfoundation.net/Economics_of_Abundance>:
A Political Economy of Freedom, Equity, and Sustainability. Gower
Publishing, 2010


 [edit<http://p2pfoundation.net/Ten_Best_P2P_Books_of_2010?title=Ten_Best_P2P_Books_of_2010&action=edit&section=7>
] 5.Protecting our P2P Internet

Rushkoff and Ryan have written very accessible books highlighting the
importance of defending the p2p nature of the internet against poltical
control and commercial exploitation.

5.A. Douglas Rushkoff’s new book Program or be
Programmed<http://p2pfoundation.net/Ten_Best_P2P_Books_of_2010?title=Program_or_be_Programmed&action=edit&redlink=1>:
Ten Commands for the Digital Age

5.B. A History of the Internet and the Digital
Future<http://p2pfoundation.net/History_of_the_Internet_and_the_Digital_Future>.
Johnny Ryan. Reaktion Press, 2010

Special mention for this more extented scholarly treatment of the threaths
to the end to end internet:

Internet Architecture and
Innovation<http://p2pfoundation.net/Internet_Architecture_and_Innovation>.
Barbara van Schewick. MIT Press, 2010


 [edit<http://p2pfoundation.net/Ten_Best_P2P_Books_of_2010?title=Ten_Best_P2P_Books_of_2010&action=edit&section=8>
] 6.The emergence of a P2P Left

People on the left are critiquing the embeddedness of much of free software
and free cultural practice to the dominant modalities of capital
accumulation, but doing so by offering constructive alternatives that makes
use of the new technological affordances as weapons in the struggle.

6.A. The Telekommunist
Manifesto<http://p2pfoundation.net/Telekommunist_Manifesto>.
Dmytri Kleiner. Institute for Network Cultures, 2010

6.B. Wikiworld <http://p2pfoundation.net/Wikiworld>: Political Economy of
Digital Literacy, and the Road from Social to Socialist Media. Juha Suoranta
– Tere Vadén.

Special mention go to 2 new studies of digital activism, and Joss Hands'
book will likely be a candidate for our list next year:

Joss Hands. @ Is For Activism <http://p2pfoundation.net/@_Is_For_Activism>.
Pluto Press, 2010

Digital Activism Decoded <http://p2pfoundation.net/Digital_Activism_Decoded>,
Ed. by Mary Joyce. Idebate Press, 2010


 [edit<http://p2pfoundation.net/Ten_Best_P2P_Books_of_2010?title=Ten_Best_P2P_Books_of_2010&action=edit&section=9>
] 7.The work of the scholars

Lewis Hyde's book, which I have yet to read, has been widely hailed not just
for its scholarly but also for its literary qualities. The book on A2K has
an absolutely amazing collection of essays on the movement for free access
to knowledge.

7.A. Common as Air <http://p2pfoundation.net/Common_as_Air>. Revolution,
Art, and Ownership. Lewis Hyde. 2010

7.B. Access to Knowledge in the Age of Intellectual
Property<http://p2pfoundation.net/Access_to_Knowledge_in_the_Age_of_Intellectual_Property>by
Gaelle Krikorian and Amy Kapczynski (eds.). Zone Books, 2010

A special mention must go to the work of master editor Daniel Araya, and
Michael Peters, for having collected the classic essays on p2p learning and
education, and much more:

Education in the Creative
Economy<http://p2pfoundation.net/Education_in_the_Creative_Economy>:
Knowledge and Learning in the Age of Innovation. Edited by Daniel Araya &
Michael A. Peters. Peter Lang, 2010


 [edit<http://p2pfoundation.net/Ten_Best_P2P_Books_of_2010?title=Ten_Best_P2P_Books_of_2010&action=edit&section=10>
] 8.The spirituality of P2P

The struggle against spiritual authoritarianism and exploitation is an
important part of the p2p sensibility, and Jeff Meyerhoff's work, though
written before, has only found a publisher this year. It's a brilliant
deconstruction of the major faults in the integral theory of Ken Wilber and
its authoritarian aspects. Bill Gibson reminds us of the importance of
de-hierachising and peering in our relation with nature and its beings, and
of the importance of a renewed understanding of the sacred, including by the
secularly inclined.

8.A. Bald Ambition<http://p2pfoundation.net/Ten_Best_P2P_Books_of_2010?title=Bald_Ambitio&action=edit&redlink=1>:
Critique of Ken Wilber’s Theory of Everything. Jeff Meyerhoff. Inside the
Curtain Press, 2010

8.B. James William Gibson’s “A Reenchanted World: The Quest for a New
Kinship with Nature<http://p2pfoundation.net/Ten_Best_P2P_Books_of_2010?title=Quest_for_a_New_Kinship_with_Nature&action=edit&redlink=1>“


Special mention: should have been on our list, but we have received no
confirmation that it has actually been published yet. But, given his
previous Ascent of Humanity book, it should be a really important
publication.

Charles Eisenstein. Sacred Economics.


 [edit<http://p2pfoundation.net/Ten_Best_P2P_Books_of_2010?title=Ten_Best_P2P_Books_of_2010&action=edit&section=11>
] 9.Emergent P2P and Commons Urbanism

If 2009 was the year of emergence for open manufacturing, then 2010 was the
year for the emergence of a robust community of p2p urbanism. While we are
waiting for the official publication of the book of readings by Nikos
Salingaros, here are two treatments, one on Vancouver, and the other a very
practical guide to the sustainable life in cities.

9.A. Common Ground in a Liquid
City<http://p2pfoundation.net/Common_Ground_in_a_Liquid_City>:
Essays in Defense of an Urban Future. Matt Hern. AK Press, 2009.

9.B. Towards Radical Urban
Resilience<http://p2pfoundation.net/Ten_Best_P2P_Books_of_2010?title=Towards_Radical_Urban_Resilience&action=edit&redlink=1>:
Toolbox for Sustainable City Living. Scott Kellog


 [edit<http://p2pfoundation.net/Ten_Best_P2P_Books_of_2010?title=Ten_Best_P2P_Books_of_2010&action=edit&section=12>
] 10.Other Important Books

Joseph Hanlon show the benefits of welfare state politics in Latin America
and the global South, instead of the current model of neoliberal corporate
welfare and bailouts for the speculators; while Jennifer Sertl's book is
indicative for the new attention in business for redesign around
communication and cooperation, and new styles of leadership.

10.A. Just Give Money to the
Poor<http://p2pfoundation.net/Just_Give_Money_to_the_Poor>:
The Development Revolution from the Global South. By Joseph Hanlon, Armando
Barrientos and David Hulme.

10.B. Jennifer Sertl & Koby Huberman. Strategy, Leadership & the Soul:
Resilience, Responsiveness and Reflection for a Global Economy.

Special mention:

Cognitive Surplus <http://p2pfoundation.net/Cognitive_Surplus>: Creativity
and Generosity in a Connected Age. Clay Shirky. The Penguin Press, 2010

Shirky's essays are always stimulating for the neurons.


-- 
P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net  - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net

Connect: http://p2pfoundation.ning.com; Discuss:
http://listcultures.org/mailman/listinfo/p2presearch_listcultures.org

Updates: http://del.icio.us/mbauwens; http://friendfeed.com/mbauwens;
http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens

Think tank: http://www.asianforesightinstitute.org/index.php/eng/The-AFI
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listcultures.org/pipermail/p2presearch_listcultures.org/attachments/20110101/62f46877/attachment.html>