There are certain insights you will learn in this book, that you probably would not have known before. Having said that, after completing 3/4 of the book, I could not go further because the book just continued repeating itself.

Great tips at the end on weasel word phrases that indicate the blogs you're reading are spreading rumors or deliberately fabricated hearsay, but Holiday's points against snark are one of the most compelling and lasting contributions of this book.

If I was a less moral person this book would be my bible.

The first half of the book is/was interesting.

If you've ever wondered why and how clickbait sensationalist listicle page view content works, this is your book. This is Ryan Holiday's first book and is markedly different than his later Stoic texts.

An enlightening book that makes you look at the media and journalists through clearer glasses. Many of Holiday's points although not revelatory, where interesting in the way he discussed and unpacked them. He examined a machine that was much more planned and insidious than even (a pessimist like me) thought. I would have given it 5 stars, but I didn't for a couple reasons. 1. It's very much a product of its time. Which means that it hit me the right way when I am researching these very subjects trying to get a handle on fake news, political correctness, and outrage culture. I hope (I'm sure Holiday does as well) that this book won't be as pertinent in a decade or so. 2. He tends to get repetitive and sometimes it seems like he could have gone further in examining certain topics instead of repeating himself. I tend not to like Holiday very much (another one of those authors everybody likes and although he is undoubtedly a very smart dude doesn't seem to click with me), but this book was a good and specifically an important read. Def recommend people read it. IMO Holiday's best book so far.

Witty headline/title, check. Great angle, check. Now, if only this were a 800 word blog post instead of a book. That would be perfect. It was a pretty good book but I didn't enjoy it and actually had to pull myself through the book at times. The premise is exciting and I was really psyched about reading about how one manipulates the media. That, you can get from reading the book, I agree. For me, the book boils down to 2 things that need not have been talked about in an entire book: 1) The internet, that forms the culture of our current generation, can ruin a person's life with false accusations made. To quote Janis Ian from Mean Girls, "Cause she's a life ruiner. She ruins people's lives." And all this happens in a matter of hours of days. It's rumours on steroids. 2) The reasons for why content is assembled and presented that way is because of traffic and clicks, targets that bloggers desperately need to hit. And you would really start doubting any content you read online after you're done with this book, when you find out how poorly vetted articles are. This book is definitely a paradigm-shifter. I won't look at websites, that do nothing but aim to fritter your time away, the same way again. (So that's why Mashable always presents its photos in a slideshow - to get more clicks!) Now excuse me, as I head off click on that Mashable link to "Watch Robot Tentacles Gently Pick Up a Flower."

Required reading.

You'll not read online news as before

Just like the media, you shouldn't trust this book 100%. But a lot of what Ryan postulates can be confirmed with a quick visit to techmeme or gawker. It's depressing, true, but knowing (at least part of) the truth helps you to not fall for all the schemes.