OK, it is not the whole title. The title is – Without Their Permission: How the 21st Century Will Be Made, Not Managed – a bit too long for a reasonable headline.

Much to my surprise, I liked this book quite a bit. But I’m getting ahead of the story so let me begin where this book ended up on my Kindle.

Preamble-My Book Review Problem

I request advanced readers from NetGalley to read on my Kindle and then review on this blog. Since these are advanced readers, I usually try to get them finished before or maybe soon after the publication date. But that didn’t happen with this title.

I got a bit carried away sometime in September and requested several titles that looked interesting but hadn’t noticed several were coming out around October 1.

Then the Wilson biography, which I had requested from the public library, arrived and I read that. The combination of a thick book and my slow reading put me way behind my planned schedule. Then I also heard a radio interview with an author and was so interested I bought that book for my Kindle and read it next *(and wrote a review).

I had 3 books I thought I would read by early October but it was already November. I did read one of the 3 and reviewed it here. Then I started the next and after maybe 10% of the book decided that it was much more than I wanted to know about the subject and stopped reading. I informed the publisher that I would not be reviewing the book. I doubt they found this very upsetting.

Review of Without Their Permission by Alexis Ohanian

So with 2 out of 3 gone I figured it was time to try this one. I wasn’t quite sure what it was going to be like.

The publisher’s blurb on NetGalley said that Alexis Ohanian was a founder of Reddit. I had seen Reddit and was not especially interested in that. I also thought it unlikely that I would be involved in an internet start-up. So I thought it unlikely that I would like the book. But I thought it only fair to give it a try.

So to my surprise I liked that book. It is a mix of biography, the making of Reddit and Hipmunk, the stories of venture capital, Y Combinator and internet start-ups, and the importance of internet freedom and the individual. It reads well and I think it is well worth reading.

The book is divided into 3 parts: the first part is autobiographical including several start-ups (Reddit, Hipmunk and BreadPig); tips on start-ups and business in the next part; and finally the political fight for a free internet (aka ‘ Net Neutrality ‘ or an ‘ Open and Free Internet ‘).

But the free internet underlies the whole book. He succeeded in Part 1 because there was a free internet. That others can succeed because there is a free internet is a major theme in the second part. I think the real important stuff is in part 3 because there are political and economic forces that would benefit from a restricted internet but society benefits in many ways from a free internet.

The start of the title Without Their Permission comes form that fact that someone with an idea does not have to ask permission of the internet gatekeepers to try something new that might “make the world suck less”. The tone is optimistic except when he imagines how the world would stagnate without a free internet.

Someone who is more familiar with Reddit or internet start-ups might feel a bit differently but for me this was a good read.

And speaking of good reads, if you Google the title you will find lots of links to places that want to see you the book. Nothing wrong with that and some do have good or interesting reviews. But if you want to see other reviews, look at GoodReads.

I enjoyed the book and I hope you will too. Take his message on the importance of internet freedom very seriously.