The mere mention of technology or sociology makes me want to run to The Hills and hide. Once nestled comfortably in the folds of a vapid yet soothing conversation between Heidi and Spencer at Don Antonio's, I often forget that science even exists. It might be, however, that my aversion to expanding beyond the reaches of gossip and reality TV, makes me the ideal target audience for Clay Shirky's excellent Here Comes Everybody, The Power of Organizing Without Organizations. All it took was peppering social-networking theory with a little blogging, Facebook, and Paris Hilton context to get me in step with the CNET crowd!

Shirky, a prolific writer and educator, offers an extremelyreadable sociological text on how communication technologies (cell phones, Internet, etc...) strengthen the world's ability to form social and political groups with ease and provide significant platforms for even the simplest of citizens. Now, teenage girls can update their blogs from their Iphones and, potentially, reach as wide an audience as a seasoned New York Times' journalist. He further shows how social tools like Flickr (the photo sharing website) can orchestrate group action without the aid of a management team and Wikipedia sustains itself in spite of its minimal policing.

Like a good picture book might, Shirky makes convoluted theories such as Power Law Distribution and Nash Equilibrium accessible through colorful pop-culture references and real-life examples. He efficiently straddles two worlds and satisfies the needs of two seemingly opposite groups: the seasoned sociologist and the easily distracted.

Even better, gossips and fashionistas can now fill the space between sips of Kettle One and soda and the studious silence at the local McNally Robinson with a casual reference to the "Tragedy of Commons" after a quick scan of Here Comes Everyone. As we all know, the analysis of unchecked self-interest versus the common good is a perfect segue into Mischa Barton's drug charges.