Interesting plod through the history of one of the most popular web sites today. ( )

This is the story of what goes on behind the front page of the internet and how it got to where it is now. It is mainly split up into how the site got created and who worked on it, occasional high/low points in the sites content including with how it dealt with it's seedy porn underbelly and its more recent problems with white supremacists.

It was interesting to me to think of this wildly successful site that was growing a user base at amazing rates, and learning that behind the scenes they were struggling for cash and couldn't get anyone hired.

Would recommend this book to people who are interested in tech startups, or are redditors who are interested in the history of the site they use.
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A treatise on free speech

I am not a Redditor, but I think I might give it a try after reading this book. I'm not interested in disgusting porn or horrible racist rants. Nor am I particularly interested in photos of cats that look like Hitler. But millions of serious people write interesting things on Reddit, and, while it might take me a while to get the hang of it, I think it will probably be fun to read along.

This is the story of Reddit's birth, infancy, teenage meltdown, mature growth, mid-life crisis, and recovery, if indeed it has recovered. The book's full of great anecdotes and, for those of us somewhat outside the .com world, it gives interesting background on some of the characters we see in the tech news today.

Back in the day I was on the fringes of the free speech movement and I was particularly interested in how the internal debate within and about Reddit has evolved. Although I don't like the long subtitle tacked onto this book, Reddit has really been a free speech laboratory. When and how should speech be restricted? Reddit, and other social media platforms deal with this every day and the argument is fascinating.

Ms Lagorio-Chafkin's writing is clear and free of unneeded jargon. Although the book is fairly long, the story progresses quickly. I enjoyed it quite a bit.

I received a review copy of "We Are the Nerds: The Birth and Tumultuous Life of Reddit, the Internet's Culture Laboratory" by Christine Lagorio-Chafkin (Hachette) through NetGalley.com. ( )