I like this book very much because it brings together several pathfinders to explore the emerging peer-to-peer environment. Especially interesting to me were the technical topics (part III), not because I care about technical, but because they addressed the core global issues that have not yet been resolved and must be resolved if international peer-to-peer is to become the new new thing: metadata, performance, trust, accountability, reputation, security, and interoperability through gateways.

The directory of peer-to-peer projects at the end of the book is really helpful--80 distinct projects are listed in 15 different categories--disappointingly, the editors chose not to do the courtesy homework of providing current contact information including a URL for each one, so thousands of people will have to duplicate that homework, a gross violation of the fundamental peer-to-peer ethic....one time data entry, universal access.

This book is especially valuable to those following the early days of Ray Ozzie and the Groove Networks roll-out. As one who is an enthusiastic early adopter, and who believes that NSA needs to get out of the way and let them export the full value of their security, I see this book as the "first edition" guide to peer-to-peer, and I agree with the reviewer from Norway: we now need the "sons of" books and products that address the meta-data and other technical issues that are touched on by this first really excellent overview book.

When I first picked up the book, I had modest expectations. I have been disappointed by technical experts treating topics from the social sciences -- and this book does just that. Different chapters focus on such issues as: incentives on users to cooperate, the vulnerability of computer networks to social control, strategies for reliable communications, and censorship. Yet in this volume each topic is treated clearly, intelligently, and insightfully.

The authors not only summarize their topics well, they regularly offer sparkling insights. For example, in the chapter "The Cornucopia of the Commons," Dan Bricklin explains how certain peer-to-peer applications are enriched by consumption. The more that users consume from the electronic commons, the larger that electronic commons becomes. In the case of Napster, as users download files those files become part of the overall archive available to others. This turns the tragedy of the commons on its head: well-designed peer-to-peer applications can create explosive processes of value generation - an insight I find both provocative and profound.

The book sits squarely at that most difficult spot on the intellectual spectrum: the place where technology and policy overlap. Is this a policy book? Yes, it is. The topics above are all policy-relevant, and for a technical expert many of them would be new. Is this a technology book? Yes, it is that, too. It talks about network architecture design, technical implementations of trust and reputation, name spaces, and searching. For social scientists, the book is an excellent introduction to computer networking.

Peer-to-Peer is nearly 400 pages long and has 19 chapters. Amazingly, every chapter is worth reading. I can't say that about many edited volumes that I know! The editor also did a good job of integrating the different chapters so that the book has overall coherence.

This book is perfect for a university-level class about the Internet. The chapters on name spaces are useful to study of ICANN and global governance. Chapters on Napster help when studying intellectual property, those on FreeNet are useful when studying free speech. In my Internet policy class, I sprinkle chapters from the book throughout the semester.

Aside from teaching, the book is useful for anyone who wants to understand computer networking. It is accessible and readable, yet surveys a wide range of technical topics.

Considering the importance of the Internet and of peer-to-peer networks, it can be surprising difficult to find good explanations of the issues. This book does just that.

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