I finished this book yesterday, finding it's message a little conflicted. The author, Matt Mason, couldn't seem to decide whether he liked capitalism or hated it. Or maybe he just couldn't really figure out what it was. His background, after all, is as a pirate DJ, not an economist. I thought his economic analysis was amatuer at best, flawed at worst. He identified at one point with some 'school' called post-autistic economics. Aside from insulting the autistic, the ideas of this school (as I gathered from a little extra research) tend toward rejection of a large part of neoclassical economics. I personally suspect that this attitude stems from the poor methods used to teach economics in schools (which I've seen first-hand), focusing so much on math and graphs that the concepts behind it are lost. In any case, I think this book could use a revamped economic analysis, along with a little less about this history of disco. Sorry, I just don't care that much about disco. Since the general theme of the book emphasizes an anti-IP stance and a curious fetish for the 'remix', I have half a mind to remix his book with a thorough dose of Austrian economics.

What I did find interesting were examples he drew like the fashion industry, where a lack of IP protections creates constant seasonal innovation in design. Since IP is a big economic point of contention among libertarians (is it or isn't it property, etc.), seeing historical examples of alternative models is interesting and useful.

Has anyone else read the book? What are your thoughts?