WHAT'S MINE IS YOURS By Rachel Botsman and Roo Rogers

WHAT'S MINE IS YOURS


By Rachel Botsman and Roo Rogers


This book of about 220 pages is considered to be one of the initiators of the sharing econommy litterature. Written and pubblished for the first time in 2009, many situations described in its pages have now substantially evolved, involving new players and disrupting/innovating "old markets".

What I found curious about this book, is that many of its forecasts already turned to be correct. In fact, in 2015, the sharing economy is gaining overall trust as a collective brand, and people are trusting strangers now more than ever.

Even though the book does not really follow an accademic approach, some statistics are presented when most needed, giving more sense to the deep and why not also "philosophic" discussion of the authors who try to convince the world that collaborative consumption is our future.

The book focus on the raising importance of access-based economy, and it does so by arguing that actually, most of the times, we don't need something but we just need what that something does. As for this, also big multinationals such as XEROX, IBM and Steelcase started to follow this pattern, offering to their customers not a product per-se but its functionality. It appears clear that this approach constitutes a valid and relevant incentive for the producers to avoid built-in obsolesence, delaying as much as possible the disposal of the product and therefore prolonging its usage life.

Personally, I loved the chapter Four Principles of Collaborative Consumption. This framework includes four main points: Critical Mass, Idling Capacity, Belief in the Commons, Trust between Strangers. If you want to understand the functioning of collaborative consumption, this basic vocabulary should be known to you at least as good as your pockets. These principles helped me structuring my entire knowledge on the sharing economy, making some order in my brain.


You may consider reading this book if:

• you wnat to take part to any collaborative consumption activity;
• you need some extra motiavation to start your sharer-life;
• you would like to understand the philosophy behind the sharing economy;
• you are trying to develop your collaborative consumption idea/business
• you are afraid about the lack of regulation in sharing-economy markets

Best quotations on my opinion:

"Not only do the things we own fill up our closets and our lives, but they also fill our minds".

"Every single person who joins or uses Collaborative Consumption creates value for another person, even if this was not the intention."

"The residents of Topanga had so many ideas that they had to decide where to start. The challange the residents experienced was coordination."

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Rachel Botsman is also founder of the platform www.collaborativeconsumption.com, which is something like a wired magazine for the sharing economy, just with more functions for the users. Take a look to the website for new updates on collaborative consumption.
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If you are wondering, I do not receive any kind of benefit from any person, institution or company for writing my reviews.

Following this book:

THE MESH

by Lisa Gansky

WE-THINK

by Charles Leadbeater

WIKINOMICS

by Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams

SHARING IS GOOD, by Beth Buczynski

SHARING IS GOOD


By Beth Buczynski


This book contains about 80 pages of introduction to collaborative consumption and sharing economy, and 80 pages of listing and descriptions of collaborative consumption online platforms, so that you can become a sharing economy activist as soon as you finish to read the book.

As I could notice, many of those platforms already went out of market since the book was written, but this might be taken as an hint of which websites are actually doing well and are worth to be tried.

The sharing economy finds its roots in the past, which should be no surprise if we consider that "sharing" is an anthropological attitude that humans bring with them since birth. Said this, it is also true that our culture and our principles change and evolve with the time, letting most of us forget about our innate need for sharing. Here it comes the strength of this book, which tries to convince the reader that Sharing not only is our past but also our future, because the only future that makes sense, is a shared one.


I would not define this reading a "book", rather I would say it is a "determined manual for the user". Its language is comprehensible to everybody, I could find no use of academic terminology at all.


You may want to read this book if:

• you are considering to take part to any collaborative consumption activity;
• you need to kill your fears about sharing;
• you would like to have an introduction to the sharing economy;
• you want to know all the things you can have access to by using sharing economy based online platforms.

Best quotations on my opinion:

"Through the lens of collaborative consumption, it becomes clear that it's access, not ownership, that's really essential to meeting our needs and want".

"We too, are programmed to share, but as a society, we've work hard to forget it"

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Thank you for reading my reviews, feel free to comment and share my post, keep checking my blog for further reviews or visit my .


If you are wondering, I do not receive any kind of benefit from any person, institution or company for writing my reviews.

Following this book:

WHAT'S MINE IS YOURS

by Rachel Botsman and Roo Rogers

FREAKONOMICS

by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner