My friend Suzanne Stefanac's new book is "Dispatches from Blogistan: A travel guide for the modern blogger," a distinctive and sensible HOWTO book for people thinking about starting a blog, or just wanting to understand more about the why and how of blogging.
Dispatches from Blogistan works hard to include the bigger context of blogging, with fascinating and fast histories of publishing, free expression, and the media that preceded blogging. Framed thus, the interviews that Suzanne conducts with many great bloggers (including Farai Chideya, Bruce Sterling, Craig Newmark, Jamais Cascio and, ahem, yours truly) really come to life, showing how blogging is part of a long and honorable tradition. Blogging recapitulates many of the media and the media-fights that preceded it.
This is a fast book and a smart one, and a great introduction to the subject for people who just don't get it, but want to.
