Chinese love Small Pieces Loosely Joined *

I am noticing that David Weinberger's new book is actually best savored as the Chinese do -- backwards. In fact, this is why he is currently in China. (A brilliant marketing strategy on his part.) They have a fine appreciation for his book.

If you go into a bookstore and pick up the book off the shelf, like the Chinese, you'll want to read the BACK cover FIRST. David's posse -- including down dudes like Richard Saul Wurman, Lawrence Lessig, Tom Peter, Chris Meyer, Dan Pink and Don Norman -- have written serious raves for this guy.

Keep reading from back to front. Start with the LAST chapter. Chapter 8: Hope, is a humdinger. I love it.

Now read the LAST paragraph of every chapter from BACK to FRONT. For instance, read the end of Chapter 7: Matter here. It's wonderful:

Web relationships go deeper than mere clickable links. As with the worlds of fiction, nothing on the Web is independent of us and our meanings and our interests; for this reason, we can't make the mistake of thinking that what "really" counts is the stuff that's apart from us. On the Web, there is only passion, words, and the presence of others, in grand, shifting, ineffably messy relationships. Those connections bind us into something more than we are as individuals pieces of organized matter; they are what's most real on the Web. In this, the Web is like the world we live in … and is unlike the world as we think about it when seized by a fit of realism. Our default realism is a wildly, even insanely, inaccurate description of human life. The virtual world of the Web exposes more clearly the truth of our everyday lives. This is why the Web -- this disruptive technology, this oddball world -- feels so familiar and so welcome.

The Web: unreal and proud of it.

Keep going through this book and loving it more and more, just the way the Chinese do. After Chapter 1, you'll realize you love this book so much you might want to actually own it and read it from front to back. Besides, you've pretty much cracked its spine and your American Express card is sitting in your wallet feeling kind of itchy anyway.

Only stop when you come to the front inside flap. Hey, you found it! There's the price! You can buy this gem! Go up to the counter, buy the thing, take it home and then, enjoy reading the front cover!

[*with all due respect to the Chinese, especially to my husband, who's Chinese American.]