₹2,319.30 ₹2,577.00 Save: ₹257.70 (10%)
Go to cartISBN: 9781324092032
Bind: Hardback
Year: 2022
Pages: 352
Size: 6.25 x 9.5 Inch
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Exclusive Distributors: Viva Books
Sales Territory: India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Bhutan
Price: $30 (Rs. 2577)
GOC for the month of March 2023: Rs. 85.90
Price after 10% Discount: Rs. 2319
Reviews:
“Excellent . . . Chapters on bringing the various iterations of the developing metaverse together, making them interact, and the hardware required, are lucid and logical. The third section is even better. Ball prophesies about where and how the metaverse might arrive, and what it could do to our lives. Its strength is testament to years of thinking deeply about the area.”
–Chris Stokel-Walker, New Scientist (UK)
“Ball [is] clear and transparent on his assumptions and ground[s] his discussion in real data and facts. His analysis then manages to integrate logic, humor, and an appropriate degree of skepticism of the most extreme claims, often made by those with vested interests. The result is an entertaining and thought-provoking guide to the coming alternative virtual world that should prove indispensable to not just users and developers but investors, competitors, and regulators.”
–Jonathan A. Knee Business Insider
“A robust explanation of a ‘persistent, 3D, virtual world—a network of interconnected experiences and devices, tools and infrastructure, far beyond mere virtual reality’…. A foremost expert on the metaverse, the author defines and demystifies what has yet to materialize, encouraging readers to suspend disbelief and instead consider the concept as they did their early interactions with tech innovations such as touchscreens, app stores, and Zoom… Readers will gain unprecedented insight into an otherwise insular aspect of the tech world.”
–Kirkus Reviews
“For this emerging generation the metaverse will be a perfectly natural psychological extension of everything they have ever known. For the rest of us, who will soon need to catch up, Ball’s book is the best crash course we have.”
–Kit Wilson, The Times (UK)
“Matthew is the leading thinker on the metaverse and gaming, one of the leading thinkers on media… The Metaverse: And How It Will Revolutionize Everything, in my opinion, [is] the very best book on its topic… [I] recommend highly.”
–Tyler Cowen, Conversations with Tyler
“Just as the present internet can be described as a network of networks, so the metaverse will be the virtual world of all virtual worlds. This is the vision offered in The Metaverse: And How It Will Revolutionize Everything by Matthew Ball . . . Ultimately, the fundamental question [Ball addresses] has to do with the social value of the metaverse: Can a human life spent in a virtual world still flourish? [Ball believes] that it can. The structures of our personal and social lives . . . are just as meaningful whether the substrate is our physical reality or a digital world . . . What, by the way, will happen to the real world that so many of us are supposedly eager to leave behind? Mr. Ball is excellent on the enormous infrastructure investments required to build a metaverse.”
–Steven Poole, Wall Street Journal
“[Ball] has long been one of the most interesting writers analyzing the technological and cultural shifts behind the emergence of the Metaverse, and his new book, The Metaverse: And How It Will Revolutionize Everything, provides an informative account on where our online existence is heading…. [Ball] knows what he is talking about, and perhaps more importantly, when the enthusiastic prophets of the new digital age are blowing smoke… If Ball’s illuminating guide is anything to go by, there is a bright future ahead for those building the Metaverse — and time perhaps for the rest of us to dust off those mirror-shades.”
–Paul Dicken , Los Angeles Review of Books
“There is no better guide to where the Internet may—or may not—be heading... Ball has an intimate understanding of the work necessary to bring the metaverse to fruition, and what might derail it.”
–Sue Halpern, New York Review of Books
Description:
“This book feels like a rare achievement: a definitive statement about an emerging phenomenon that could shape the digital world, the global economy, and the very experience of human consciousness.”—Derek Thompson, staff writer at The Atlantic and national best-selling author of Hit Makers
The term “Metaverse” is suddenly everywhere, from the front pages of national newspapers and the latest fashion trends to the plans of the most powerful companies in history. It is already shaping the policy platforms of the US government, the European Union, and the Chinese Communist Party.
But what, exactly, is the Metaverse? As pioneering theorist and venture capitalist Matthew Ball explains, it is a persistent and interconnected network of 3D virtual worlds that will eventually serve as the gateway to most online experiences, and also underpin much of the physical world. For decades, these ideas have been limited to science fiction and video games, but they are now poised to revolutionize every industry and function, from finance and healthcare to education, consumer products, city planning, dating, and well beyond.
Taking us on an expansive tour of the “next internet,” Ball demonstrates that many proto-Metaverses are already here, such as Fortnite, Minecraft, and Roblox. Yet these offer only a glimpse of what is to come. Ball presents a comprehensive definition of the Metaverse before explaining the technologies that will power it—and the breakthroughs that will be necessary to fully realize it. He addresses the governance challenges the Metaverse entails; investigates the role of Web3, blockchains, and NFTs; and predicts Metaverse winners and losers. Most importantly, he examines many of the Metaverse’s almost unlimited applications.
The internet will no longer be at arm’s length; instead, it will surround us, with much of our lives, labor, and leisure taking place inside the Metaverse. Bringing clarity and authority to a frequently misunderstood concept, Ball foresees trillions of dollars in new value—and the radical reshaping of society.
Target Audience:
People interested in technology, computing, internet, mobile computing etc.
Contents:
Introduction
Part I: What is the Metaverse
Chapter 1: A Brief History of the Future
Chapter 2: Confusion and Uncertainty
Part II: Building the Metaverse
Chapter 5: Networking
Chapter 6: Computing
Chapter 7: Virtual World Engines
Chapter 8: Interoperability
Chapter 9: Hardware
Chapter 10: Payment Rails
Chapter 11: Block Chains
Part III: How the Metaverse will Revolutionize Everything
Chapter 12: When will the Metaverse Arrive?
Chapter 13: Meta-Businesses
Chapter 14: Metaverse Winners and Losers
Chapter 15: Metaversal Existence
Conclusion: Spectators. All
Acknowledgments
Notes
Index
About the Author:
Matthew Ball is the CEO of Epyllion and the former global head of strategy for Amazon Studios. He has written for the New York Times, the Economist, and Bloomberg. Ball divides his time between Toronto, New York City, and Miami.