When it becomes more than a blog

I just finished reading the book I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell, by Tucker Max. I wouldn't recommend this for anyone over the age of maybe 25.It's pretty...graphic...although hilarious at times.

Tucker Max is a Duke Law graduate who took a collection of stories, mostly having to do with his random sexual exploits with college girls, and turned them into a book. He claims that the stories are all 100% true, although reading even one might give you reason to doubt this. Before compiling his outrageous tales into a book, he started his own website and blog at tuckermax.com.

In a previous post, I discussed how a simple blog can immediately catapult someone into the public eye. "I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell" was a New York Times bestseller, and once again is a perfect example of ordinary writing from someone who didn't necessarily aspire to be a writer. The book brings itself down to a level that many people in the target audience might relate to, even if they haven't experienced anything quite like in the stories. Blogs, and books like Tucker Max's, have made mass communication and large audiences accessible. Although there will certainly always be a need for professional journalists, citizen journalists and bloggers are also playing an important role in informing and entertaining people. To some, its the non-journalists who might be the better source for what's going in the world.