The Master Switch by Tim Wu

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect when I queued this up as my next audiobook, and after listening to the unabridged version I found this enjoyable.  Wu does a great job of sweeping through the scope and history of a handful of major information empires such as telephony, radio, television, motion pictures, etc. and then looks at how some of the individual actors have had dramatic effects.  Wu then examines the business ideology and uses that to frame an inspection of what is happening in today’s media landscape and why issues such as net neutrality and other policies can be so important.  I believe consumer awareness and education are also supremely important.

For those looking for a nicely packaged answer on whether they ought to invest in a particular company this book is not for you.  For those looking for a treatise on the mechanisms underlying contemporary information empires this is well worth the read.