Choose a book title

With my submission date to Reaktion Press still 13 months away, I have to choose a book title that I can work to. I’m pretty new to this side of things, so some points to keep in mind.

First, the title of my first book was fifteen words long, to my thinking, that’s three times too long. Second, Reaktion are interested in the ‘short history idea’. A recent book from the same publishing house Boxing: a Cultural History was recently reviewed in the Economist [link]. In the same vein, I was thinking of The Internet: a short history of the future. Third, I have noticed that new books about the Internet use short titles that put the focus on their central theme from the get-go, and can be used as short hand for their concepts by their readers. Think of Wikinomics, We-Think, Republic 2.0, Code 2.0, and for slightly longer examples, The Wealth of Networks, The Future of the Internet: and how to stop it. And, as if in response to my earlier book’s 15 word title, this book could have a one word title. But Which Word? Perhaps one which puts the focus on a theme that has consistently reasserted itself as I have researched the Internet’s history: Openness.

So, in the spirit of openness, any ideas would be appreciated…