Chiropractic Practice Blog

I found Chris Anderson’s previous book, The Long Tail to be fascinating so when I heard his interview with Terry Gross on NPR, I immediately got his new book, Free: The Future of a Radical Price. Plus, Chris is the editor of Wired Magazine, the only periodical I subscribe to and read.

We’re all familiar with free, as in “buy one, get one free” or “there’s no such thing as a free lunch.” And Chris tackles these and other manifestations of free. However, he makes his greatest distinction by contrasting what free means in the realm of atoms (tangible products and services) and the realm of bits (digital content). From music sharing sites and China’s blatant disregard of copyrights and intellectual property to Google’s free search engine sponsored by paid advertising—Chris covers it all.

And while he doesn’t specifically cover the “free spinal exam” phenomenon we see far too often in chiropractic, it probably falls under the “if-it’s-free-it-must-not-have-any-value” discussion that he touches on in several places in the book. If you’re a bit of a geek like me, you’ll enjoy the issues and thought-provoking ideas he explores.

By the way, you can download the free audio version of the book here.