The Age of Conversation eBook

Take 2 editors – one American and one Australian who have never met

Add 103 writers/bloggers, from 10 countries and 4 continents

Give them a topic – conversation or The Conversation Age

And See what happens – The Age of Conversation!

Finally, do a good deed – donate the proceeds to Variety Children’s Charity.

The result -- phenomenal.

I downloaded the book to my Palm and when I have a couple of spare minutes I read a couple of pages. I was even tempted to try it at a long light on my way to work this morning -- not recommended.

Five years ago if someone had said that you could have 2 editors and 103 contributors and publish a book in 3 months you would have been laughed out of existence! In lots of publishing houses today, you still would be.

This project is a great reminder of why I love technology. The Age of Conversation showcases the awesome power of the internet for collaboration and community.

Here’s the ‘official’ stuff:

If ideas are the currency of our times then this is, undoubtedly, the Age of Conversation, for without the art of dialog, the cut and thrust of debate and discussion, then the economy of ideas would implode under its own heavy weight. Instead, the reverse is true. Far from seeing an implosion, we are living in a time of proliferation — ideas build upon ideas, discussion grows from seeds of thought and single headlines give rise to a thousand medusa-like simulations echoing words whispered somewhere on the other side of the planet. All this — in an instant. In what began as a half dare, the editors, Gavin Heaton and Drew McLellan challenged bloggers around the world to contribute one page — 400 words— on the topic of “conversation”. The resulting book, The Age of Conversation,brings together over 100 of the world’s leading marketers, writers, thinkers and creative innovators in a ground-breaking and unusual publication.