The Last Best Place on the Internet

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 more than 300 languages read by millions every day - all created by unpaid, mainly amateur and mostly anonymous volunteers.

In this entertaining book, journalist Richard Cooke delves into Wikipedia's fabled creation, its extraordinary success and its profound effects on politics, business, literature and society. He explores the site's shifting role in establishing fact in a time of deep uncertainty about truth and authority; the often hilariously fierce debates between 'Inclusionists' and 'Deletionists' about what is worth knowing and preserving, and who gets to decide; and the great peril Wikipedia faces today from bots, political division and artificial intelligence.

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.

'Wikipedia is sui generis, one of the strangest and most outlandish successes of its time, quite unlike what came before it, or anything set to succeed it. Since its birth twenty-five years ago it has become part of the fabric of everyday life, quietly indivisible from the experience of seeking information, a default with no obvious precedent or competitor. For most of its lifespan, it has enjoyed a unique supremacy - not only an encyclopedia, but the encyclopedia, a reference work to end all others.' -Richard Cooke, The Last Best Place on the Internet

"Most people who rely on Wikipedia today know little of its beginnings. This book recovers those origin stories with fresh detail and narrative flair, and shows why they still matter in the age of AI." -Joseph Reagle, Associate Professor of Communication Studies at Northeastern, author of Good Faith Collaboration: The Culture of Wikipedia

"If you questioned why ordinary people turned out to be the best experts to write humanity's last great encyclopaedia read on. A wonderful book about a wonderful invention." Danny Dorling, author of Slowdown