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Book Description

In the final few years of the twentieth century, an agent of social change has burst into prominence, one that may well have a greater and quicker cumulative effect than all the changes that have ever gone before. It is the rise of the Internet--the electronic interactive community that links the world's people and businesses. Now, in the infancy of this new medium, leading American thinkers and business people lend you their expertise and make startling predictions about the future in the pages of this fascinating book.

The very speed and productivity of computers have accelerated the pace of change--and their ubiquity means that the Internet affects nearly every walk of life. For Fast Forward, former Federal Communications Commission chairman Alfred C. Sikes assembled a "power panel" of twenty-four Americans from a variety of disciplines who are leading the march into tomorrow, and asked them to provide an authoritative glimpse into the wondrous world of potential that is literally at our fingertips.

How will instantaneous electronic mail--and even more sophisticated methods of communication still to come--continue to erase the geographical boundaries between far-flung families? What will be the effect of virtual shopping and instantaneous price comparisons on bricks-and-retail stores and on their customers? When individuals and families have access to vast resources of medical information, how will the doctor-patient relationship change? And amid all this communication and linking of computers and households, how are we to ensure our families' privacy and security?

Many of these questions have been posed before. But never before has such an impressive array of experts been brought to bear on them: journalists, entrepreneurs in the New Economy, media executives, financial authorities, health care professionals, futurists, and more--the ultimate collection of brainpower for the Information Age.

Here is a stimulating, provocative book of dazzling ideas and informed speculation that will be essential reading as we enter a new millennium at Internet speed-Fast Forward.Some of the most distinguished and forward-thinking minds in America answer the questions: how is the Internet changing human life today, and how will that change affect us in the future? Concentrating on ten major subject areas (family, health, investing, education, business, careers, shopping, entertainment, privacy, and the future), the authors have gathered a list of thinkers including journalist Ken Auletta, New York Stock Exchange chairman Richard A. Grasso, Dr. C. Everett Koop, America Online's Robert Pittman, futurist Alvin Toffler, Charles Schwab, Excite.com's George Bell, Inc. magazine editor-in-chief George Gendron, net-culture analyst Esther Dyson, Women.com founder Ellen Pack, and many more. Together, they provide a fascinating, authoritative look into the present and the future of net life.

From Publishers Weekly

Notables from such fields as information technology, business, journalism and government sound off on how the Internet is affecting our lives and its likely future impact in this disappointing round-robin of interviews. Contributors include futurist Alvin Toffler, discount broker Charles Schwab, America Online president Robert Pittman, former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, broadcast.com founder Mark Cuban (also v-p of Yahoo!), New Yorker columnist Ken Auletta and White House educational technology staffer Linda Roberts. The chapters address the Internet's influence on health care, education, virtual communities, entrepreneurship, shopping, entertainment and privacy and security issues, but the discussions tend to be superficial, with four to six commentators addressing each topic from the perspective of their particular company or service. The panelists also offer intriguing predictions: doctors will offer consultations via e-mail and bill for these interactions; manufacturers will sell direct to consumers, bypassing retailers; investors will trade stocks round-the-clock using wireless, handheld computers; electronic books and portable reading devices will challenge print-based publishing within 10 years. Sikes, the president of Hearst Interactive Media and former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, and Pearlman, a former Home PC editor-in-chief, also provide helpful lists of Web sites. Despite its impressive roster, the book reads like the transcript of a cacophonous chat room, mingling suggestive, even daring commentary with bland or predictable responses. Agent: Bill Adler. (May)

From Library Journal

"Leading experts" here range from executives at well-known Internet brands to futurist Alvin Toffler to ubiquitous cyber-commentator Esther Dyson. No new names, then, and no real surprises. Sikes and Pearlman divide these interviews, conducted in the spring and summer of 1999, into topical sections, creating the appearance of a conversation on the Internet's impact on education, health, careers, consumerism, etc. Each of the contributors waxes enthusiastic over the power of the Internet to change lives while throwing in plugs for his or her respective company. Some mention the need for the critical evaluation of online information or the digital divide between the rich and the poor, but this barely slows their momentum. The suggested sites at the end of each topical section tend toward large names; many chapters even list the "most popular" sites on the subject. The inclusion of several predictions about the Internet "by the end of the year 2000" will date the material fairly quickly. These interviews might serve as articles for Internet novices, but in a book they fail either to provide new insights or to create a convincing narrative. Not recommended.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　-Rachel Singer Gordon, Franklin Park P.L., IL

Book Dimension

length: (cm)23.5 　　　 　　　　　 　　　　　 width:(cm)15.5