Shamans, Software, and Spleens

James Boyle's unusually adventurous Shamans, Software and Spleens...examines the ideological and practical issues raised by the figure of the author in contemporary law and legal theory...Boyle's programme is two-fold. First, he offers a social theory of the information society as it depends on the figure of the author and the fiction of originality...Second, he offers a delicately phrased argument for leftward mitigation of intellectual property rights. On both fronts, Boyle succeeds admirably, demonstrating the logical contradictions of the author-centered regime and building a strong ethical and practical case for changes in the laws governing our information society...Boyle develops a terrifically engaging discussion of various problems in legal theory such as blackmail, insider trading, and the ownership of one's genetic code...It is the great merit of Boyle's work that he engages the debate on so many fronts, opening the conceptual breach of authorship neither to close it peremptorily nor to overcome it illusively, but to show how its very paradoxes provide the conceptual basis for the laws of property that govern our intellectual exchange. -- Adam Bresnick * Times Literary Supplement * In this masterly book, James Boyle takes one of the mind-twisting subjects of our times--the treatment of information--and turns it into enjoyable and informative reading. The ownership and commoditization of knowledge, biogenetic resources, and human genetic materials are increasingly the focus of international debate. Boyle's discussion of these issues reflects a remarkable understanding of intellectual, cultural, and scientific property rights, and provides astute insights into the nature of innovation, creativity, and knowledge in the information age. -- Darrell Addison Posey, Oxford Centre for the Environment, Ethics and Society Boyle's book is an important contemporary addition to a range of historical works on authorship, textual studies, and the theory of property. -- Susan Stewart, Temple University Highly original. Very few scholars have attempted a comprehensive evaluation of the wide variety of legal fields pertaining to property rights in information and intellectual creation...The writing is crisp, learned, irreverent, and funny. -- William Fisher, Harvard Law School This is an exciting and suggestive study. The subject--intellectual property in the `information age'--is as timely as one can imagine, and Boyle has very interesting things to say on a variety of relevant topics...There has been nothing so far quite like Boyle's study, which goes beyond copyright issues in its concern and which provides many new insights into the practical significance of the romantic author paradigm. -- Mark Rose, University of California, Santa Barbara Why does James Boyle include 'Spleens' in the title of this bold book? You'll have to read at least Chapter 9 to find out. If you read more, you'll discover any number of acute insights about any number of things--all linked by a capacious concern with rights in information. -- Ralph S. Brown, Yale Law School [James Boyle] has written an eloquent, provocative, and highly readable book on the fundamental question for the information age. Who owns the end result of intellectual creation? And, more importantly, should anyone really be allowed to own it?...[This is an] impressive work...Professor Boyle has articulated an incisive view of intellectual property that deserves our respect and attention. -- Richard A. Spinello * Ethics and Information Technology * In Shamans, Software, and Spleens, James Boyle guides the reader through a number of thought-provoking instances [of] conflicts that arise between profit and originality; what is legally correct but ethically questionable; and the long debated controversies on fair and unfair use of information...[He] has devoted a large portion of the book to real life examples that assist the reader

James Boyle is Professor of Law at American University.

Preface 1. The Information Society 2. Four Puzzles 3. The Public and Private Realms 4. Information Economics 5. Intellectual property and the Liberal State 6. Copyright and the Invention of Authorship 7. Blackmail 8. Insider Trading and the Romantic Entrepreneur 9. Spleens 10. Stereotyping Information and Searching for an Author 11. The International Political Economy of Authorship 12. Private Censors, Transgenic Slavery, and Electronic 13.Indenture 14. Proposals and Objections Conclusion Appendix A. An Afterword on Method Appendix B. The Bellagio Declaration Notes Acknowledgments Index