Search Engine Recommended Reading List10 books to read to better understand online culture presented by Jesse Brown, host of the TVO technology podcast Search Engine:

"Reading books that will help you understand the Internet is kind of like reading poems to understand amusement parks; there might be a bunch out there, but why would you bother when you could just go buy a ticket and ride the flume yourself? I don't read a lot of 'Big Idea' Internet guru books," says Jesse, "but when online culture exploded I noticed in it a lot of visual and, well, spiritual similarities to things I had been reading for years in comic books and zines. I also felt that much of the ethos of the Internet was anticipated in the DIY values of punk and hip hop. And, yeah, I do read the occasional 'Big Idea' book too. So enough preamble - here's a list of paper products that I kind of sort of feel have a lot to do with understanding the Internet."

• Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations by Clay Shirky

• Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation by Jeff Chang

• Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art by Scott McCloud

• The Acme Novelty Library by Chris Ware

• Twentieth Century Eightball by Daniel Clowes

• The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman

• Pranks! (RE/Search)

• The Wisdom Of Crowds by James Surowiecki

• The Future of Ideas: The Fate of the Commons in a Connected World by Lawrence Lessig

• Free Culture: The Nature and Future of Creativity by Lawrence Lessig

Features