The Big Switch: 12 Signed Pre-Release Copies For TechCrunch Readers

Author Nick Carr is someone I used to love to hate. He wrote blog posts that I strongly disagreed with – such as this one about the long tail of blogging, and another arguing that Web 2.0 had serious faults. We’ve had numerous direct disagreements as well – he’s called me smug and worse, and I’ve fought back.

But over time I’ve grown to respect his writing and thought process, even though he still takes the occasional mild shot at our posts. The guy just writes really, really well.

His first book, Does IT Matter?, helped change the way companies and vendors thought about technology and its place in the corporate entity. Now he’s preparing to publish his second book, The Big Switch. You can pre-order it on Amazon.

I have an early copy of the book. It’s timely and well written, arguing that computing services are turning into a utility, much as the electric grid emerged a hundred years ago. He argues that society will change drastically as a result.

I asked Carr if we could give away a dozen autographed copies of the book before it hits the market, and he agreed. If you’d like one, please leave a comment below. All you have to do is make sure to include your real email address in the comment form so that we can contact you. Tell us something interesting about yourself and why you want the book. Agree or disagree with something Nick has said on his blog (the first two links in the top paragraph above are easy targets). Or just have a good rant. The twelve most interesting responses will get the book shipped out to them asap.

Update: The winners are Rob Walters, Doug Phelps, Alex Rosen, Qiang Wang, John Dyer, Michael #21, Jeff the Great, Brad Jashinsky, Joshua Walters, Paul Speranza, Tom Comeau, Andy McKenzie.