Book Review: The Long Tail by Chris Anderson

I read The Long Tail skeptical that it would be little more than a magazine article with filler.  Too many business books seem to be that way these days.  Even some of my favorite books, like The World is Flat, felt overly long. 

Boy was I wrong.  Anderson uses 226 pages to eloquently elaborate on his theory of the Long Tail (now accepted by most in the Internet and content industries as an accurate portrayal of today's marketplace).  Rather than rehashing rhetoric and adding useless quotes and commentary, Anderson successfully uses the book format to do things he couldn't do in a magazine article.  He provides myriad examples of the Long Tail at work in various industries.

He does a nice job of comparing and contrasting brick-and-mortar retailers with their online counterparts.  And he explores some of the challenges of the Long Tail -- I especially liked the section entitled "Is the Long Tail Full of Crap?"  I also found the discussion of the power niches to be especially compelling.

Fellow entrepreneurs and investors will find this to be a thought-provoking book.  I know it's already got my mind churning on some potential ideas.  A lot of us glibly talk about the Long Tail and some of us have even read the original article, but the book provides a wealth of new examples that extend the original article in ways that should get the creative juices flowing.

This book should be available in bookstores on Tuesday, July 11.

Bottom Line: Highly recommended.

Comments

[jeff squires]

hey, I liked your review of longtail. have you read the interview with chris anderson on psfk.com? pretty cool.
http://www.psfk.com/2006/05/chris_anderson_.html