Without Their Permission

An excellent and inspiring read about the Internet, and the unprecedented opportunities it has, and should it remain free and open, and will continue to provide.

A must read for anyone interested in starting an online company, and I highly recommend for anyone who wants to better understand why “this Internet thing” is so amazing.

My impressions of Alexis after reading this is that he is the hype man, the promoter, the pusher, the people person behind Reddit and his other ventures. He made the logo and spent an inordinate amount of time creating business cards. That's fun I guess. He was not involved with the technical aspects of the site and that perspective is missing from the book, which I personally thought was unfortunate. I don't really think you can speak to why Reddit was successful without it.

The title covers more than just reddit though it also touches on how the internet has changed things. From internet activism that led to the prevention of SOPA/PIPA laws, to the impact of crowdfunding. I did find these sections significantly more interesting so there is that.

The biggest detractor for me though is just in how everything is structured. It felt to me like a string of reddit posts, put into book format. Complete with meme culture/jokes, sound bytes, jumping around in topic, and a significant amount of repetitive information. Just not really my cup of tea when it comes to writing styles.