The Big Switch: Rewiring the World, from Edison to Google

Future Shock for the Web-apps era.... Compulsively readablefor nontechies, too. Fast Company

Building on the success of his industry-shaking Does IT Matter? Nicholas Carr returns with The Big Switch, a sweeping look at how a new computer revolution is reshaping business, society, and culture. Just as companies stopped generating their own power and plugged into the newly built electric grid some hundred years ago, today it's computing that's turning into a utility. The effects of this transition will ultimately change society as profoundly as cheap electricity did. The Big Switch provides a panoramic view of the new world being conjured from the circuits of the World Wide Computer. New for the paperback edition, the book now includes an AZ guide to the companies leading this transformation.