Making the most of the obvious.("The Wisdom of the Crowds: Why the Many are Smarter Than the Few")(Book Review)

Publication: Spectator

Publication Date: 26-JUN-04

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COPYRIGHT 2004 The Spectator Ltd. (UK)

THE WISDOM OF CROWDS: WHY THE MANY ARE SMARTER THAN THE FEW by James Sorowiecki Little, Brown, 16.99 [pounds sterling], pp. 295, ISBN 0316861731

James Surowiecki is a Martian. True, he doesn't have pointy ears and he writes a financial column for the New Yorker. But only someone fallen to Earth would celebrate the obvious as much as he does. When he ventures out into a city, he marvels at the fact that fast-walking pedestrians don't bump into each other on a crowded pavement. He calls it 'the beauty of a well-co-ordinated crowd'. When he goes into a supermarket in search of orange...

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