The Last Best Place On The Internet
Coming October 2026 - pre-order now:
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A playful and provocative exploration of mighty Wikipedia: how it was built, why it thrived, and what we lose as its ideals disintegrate.
One of the keystone inventions of the twenty-first century, Wikipedia is the largest repository of human knowledge ever made, with editions in 343 languages, read by millions of people every day. Yet, its rightful status as a “digital wonder of the world” is coupled with an odd complacency. We all use Wikipedia (often without realizing it) but seldom think about what it is and where it came from. In this entertaining book, Richard Cooke offers a fresh and definitive account of this era-defining phenomenon.
The Last Best Place on the Internet reveals the personality clashes, philosophical disputes, private obsessions, pioneering innovations, and unexpected ideas behind Wikipedia’s fabled creation, extraordinary growth, and unparalleled success. Cooke examines the profound effect of an “encyclopedia anyone can edit” on politics, business, literature, and society at large. He explores the site’s shifting role in establishing fact amid deep uncertainty about truth and authority, the often hilariously fierce debates between “Inclusionists” and “Deletionists” about what matters, and the great perils Wikipedia faces today from bots, political division, and artificial intelligence.
Meticulously researched and eye-opening, The Last Best Place on the Internet is a fascinating journey into the hidden world of one of the most vital—and most endangered—cultural achievements of our time.
Elon Musk:
Dark Star Rising
(special extended edition of JQ 225, Dark Star: The Political Turning of Elon Musk)
What happened to Elon Musk? An urgent, razor-sharp political biography of the world’s richest person.
“You won't read a sharper or more necessary portrait than this – of a visionary cad, clown and genius who is both an exploding rocket yet also capable of landing on Mars, where he says he hopes to die; of a sociopathic and touchy Icarus who wants to save the world, but only on his own terms. It's terrific stuff.”
- Nicholas Shakespeare
“Read it and then beg everyone you know to read it too.”
- Devorah Baum
Robyn Davidson, author of the classic memoir Tracks, has led a remarkable life of writing and nomadic travel. I
n this crisp, erudite essay, acclaimed critic and journalist Richard Cooke explores Davidson’s relationship with place and freedom, and her singular presence in Australian letters.
“Exquisite”
- Peter Craven
“Literary criticism at its best”
- Fiona Capp, The Age (Pick of the Week)
Twenty-six essays. Twenty state. In the throes of Donald Trump’s America, coast-to-coast.
From the theology of opioids to the aftermath of a mass shooting, from #MeToo to the paintings of George W. Bush, reporting from a hurricane-ravaged East Coast to a serial killer on the US–Mexico border.
“Brilliant”
- The Saturday Paper.
“Humorous, poignant, and censorious”
- Australian Book Review