Book Review: An Army of Davids by Glenn Reynolds

August 22, 2006 Posted by Roger Overton

Whoever said size matters hasn’t read An Army of Davids
by Glenn Reynolds, well known in the blogsphere as Instapundit.com. The book is
about how individuals, as opposed to large organizations, media, and government,
are and will continue to be the primary moving force behind changes journalism,
business, technology, space exploration, and overall human advancement.

Composed of twelve chapters, An Army of Davids
examines our society from the bottom up. The analysis begins with the growing
number of small businesses, specifically work-at-home jobs, in contrast Dilbert
type office jobs. Reynolds suggests that this shift will continue and will be
beneficial as a crime deterrent and for more stable families. Moving on,
Reynolds looks at recent developments in music technology, the war on terror,
and media as instances of individuals becoming more powerful and important.

After a brief interlude on good blogging, Reynolds continues
by making the case that war video games have become the best educational tool
for military history and tactics. He then moves on to discuss the possibilities
available from the development of nano and age-prolonging technologies. The
final chapters explore our potential for space exploration and reaching
“singularity.” Singularity, I think, refers to the point in time where
technological advancement occurs beyond the grasp of human intelligence.

While an Army of Davids has much to offer, it also
has a few problems. For one, the discussion of singularity went mostly over my
head, and I think that’s mostly because I couldn’t find a clear definition in
the book that could help make sense of the discussion. From time to time, some
topics seemed to steer off course (portions of video gaming, nanotechnology,
and space exploration come to mind) and in the back of my mind I questioned
their relevance as I read.

I disagreed with a few points here and there, but the most
troubling were statements about teens and pornography: “But, despite continued warnings
from concerned mothers’ groups, teenagers are less violent, and—according to
some, if not all, studies—they’re having less sex, not withstanding the
predictions of many concerned people that such exposure would have the opposite
effect. More virtual sex and violence would seem to go along with less real sex
and violence; certainly with less pregnancy and violence.” (149-150). The
argument that Reynolds appears to make is that this is reason for considering
deregulating pornography. However, assuming his premises hold up, he fails to
consider psychological impact apart from promiscuity. What happens when these
teens get married, if they do? How would this affect their marriage and
families? How will these teens treat women? I fail to see any good possible
answers.

Despite these shortcomings, An Army of Davids
by Glenn Reynolds is a very intriguing book. It expanded my thought into areas
I haven’t considered, and for that I’m appreciative. Reynolds expertise and
background make An Army of Davids an interesting and enjoyable book
overall.