Reviews for Common as Air: Revolution, Art, and Ownership

The average rating for Common as Air: Revolution, Art, and Ownership based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2011-11-26 00:00:00 Edward Papesh An important book which provides a clear compelling argument for taking the notion of the "commons" seriously in relation to intellectual property. Hyde resists the romantic notions of the commons popularized by the influential (overly so) essay "The Tragedy of the Commons," emphasizing the centrality of "stints" (limitations of various sorts)to the actual use of commons. He does back to the founding fathers--the real thinking beings, not the tea party caricatures--and demonstrates that they saw copyright as a part of a bigger picture contribuing to the public good. In practice what that means is allowing for limited term copyright with the clear understanding that the material would be released into the public domain within a generation (about 19 years at most). While the meat of the book is Hyde's historical excavation, he does a nice job applying his argument to the cases of the human genome, Bob Dylan's music, and the absolutely tragic commodification of the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. (by King's own heirs). Hyde relies on the founding fathers--especially Franklin, Madison and Jefferson, with a bit of Adams tossed in--not as authorities per se but because they developed arguments in a rigorous manner which is absolutely foreign to our current public sphere. I'll be using this book a lot. Highly recommended.

Review # 2 was written on 2017-10-08 00:00:00 Nayady Rodriguez Lewis Hyde was born in 1945 and is a very influential writer who focuses on creativity of people, their imaginations and property. Furthermore, Hyde is a cultural critic as well as a translator. He is responsible for books such as The Gift (983), Trickster Makes this World (1998) and Common as Air: Revolution, Art, and Ownership (2010). The latter is a plea that fights for intellectual property of literature from exploitation by commercial interests around the world. The book has received positive review across the world showing how people are interested in protecting intellectual property as well as allowing others to access such information for free. The book Common as Air: Revolution, Art, and Ownership defends the cultural norms of our society from exploitation. Hyde believes that these ideas we have inherited them from the past and we need to have the freedom to enrich them. He uses history to show how people used to enjoy collective land rights during the era of our founding fathers. In the argument, he states that the founding fathers had warned against privatization of public property such as science, arts, knowledge available and literature as such would be a way of exploiting monopolies. For example, Hyde uses Hollywood, the Pharmaceutical industries and agribusiness are some entities that have privatized public knowledge into private property by manipulating the law of intellectual property to their advantage. He uses Jefferson to disagree with such moves as he states "The field of knowledge is the common property of mankind" while Franklin says that, "As we enjoy great advantages from the inventions of others, we should be glad of an opportunity to serve others by any invention of ours, and this we should do freely and generously" (Lewis Hyde 22). Hyde uses an Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan to show how they believed knowledge is a public property who used to say that "an equation for me has no meaning, unless it represents a thought of God" (Lewis Hyde 20). The input of different people towards the pot of knowledge should be appreciated and not be privatized for personal gains. Hyde believes that it's upon the people to decide whether they want to have their culture exploited by the few for their personal benefits or should it grow by allowing it as a public property of the community. Franklin did not patent his famous work in making a lightning rod based on the fact that he had drawn knowledge from a common store of knowledge. Therefore, the discovery was dedicated as a common benefit to all people. In the present, some scientists have done exceptional work for the public and as Hyde quotes Nobel Laureate John Sulton about the book he wrote about the mapping of the human genome, "1 am one of those who feel that the earth is a common good," he writes, and the book combines a passionate defense of "the common ownership of the genome" with a description of "the global consequences of ignoring common goods in the quest for short term profit."(Lewis Hyde 14). It shows that some individuals are committed into generating information for the greater good than privatize for their own benefits. The founding fathers used democratic governance as a way of helping people access ideas easily and open up theirs for access by other people. The creative communities in the 18th century grew very fast due to sharing of information and actors thought their work as civic virtue hence improving literature. Hyde manages to show the present how the past used to be and request the greedy individuals and commercial entities that want to exploit others on sharing public information. By shedding light on the Human Genome Project as well as Bob Dylan's musical roots, it shows how people are ready to allow growth of the nation by sharing knowledge. The book is a stepping top towards the achievement of a society that doesn't feed on personal success but that which allows people to use other people resources (in the past or present) to improve them for the benefit of the society. Cultural ownership is important and people have the right to access what is rightfully theirs.