If you already read lots of blogs, this book may be redundant for you. I thought I knew what a blog was (some sort of Web journal logged in occasionally . . . almost like a personal diary), but had never read one. So I thought, well, why not read the best ones? That's what brought me to this book.The authors searched thousands of blogs and submitted the better choices to a panel of three judges who rated each one. The highest rated blogs made it into the book, and the blog authors were interviewed. So the book provides you with both blogs and the reality behind the blogs.
The predominant style was to take ordinary events and slightly stretch and reform what happened to create humor. The method is much like that used by stand-up comics who like to poke fun at themselves. Much of the humor didn't work for me, but it certainly was offbeat. It seems like blogs operate in a less censored mode that much published writing. So you can learn a lot about the people who interact with the pornography at the video rental shops . . . if you really want to. If you dislike foul language and gross situations, this book may not appeal to you.
Lesser common styles involved taking you someplace where you thought you knew what goes on . . . but providing an insider's view of the reality instead . . . without exaggeration. The two best examples were of a public defender in California and a freelance reporter interviewing ordinary Iraqis during and immediately after the recent ouster of Saddam Hussein. I found the Iraq material to be riveting, and plan to follow this blog in the future.
I was impressed to see that published authors are doing blogs to provide writing practice, and to test out work on readers before "publishing" it in physical form. Of course, most bloggers are people who are unpublished and find this format appealing for its openness.
Fans of Wil Wheaton (Wesley Crusher on Star Trek: The Next Generation) will enjoy reading about his life as an ordinary guy "celebrity." His description of the restaurant meal is priceless.
I think that the time I spent with this book was well rewarded, and I now know a lot more about blogs and blogging than if I had randomly checked out blogging sites.
I encourage you to learn more, too, if this is a relatively new subject for you.
