Sen. John Kerry had some nice things to say about the book.  See the last few paragraphs of this press release.  And in a nice letter I received from him, he wrote:

“Thank you for the inscribed copy of In Search of Jefferson’s Moose — it is a terrific read.  As we move further into the 21st century, questions about governing cyberspace will continue to emerge and your analysis of Jefferson’s ideals provides a particularly valuable perspective as we press forward on these technological issues.  As with every new and unexplored territory, we must commit ourselves to discovering all that can and proceeding with curiosity and a scientific spirit.  You obviously have an in-depth understanding of this field, and I thank you for your thoughtful contributions to the conversation.  Well done!!”

And I was particularly delighted to receive a short, hand-written note from Merrill D. Peterson, the long-time dean of America’s Jefferson scholars, and to whom I had sent a copy of the book some time ago.  Prof. Peterson wrote:

“Thanks so much for sending me J.Moose.  You have brilliantly created a bridge between Jefferson’s Notes on Virginia and what you call Cyberspace, though I confess ignorance about the latter.

Your book was a joy to read; I trust it will find an understanding audience.”

One of the nice things about going around and giving talks about the book is that listeners offer up some good ideas about candidates for the “moose” for the Net. I was somewhat unsatisfied with my own choice — Wikipedia — in the book, and with good reason: though it is a good candidate for something “dazzling” on the Net (in the way that the moose was dazzling to those in the Old World), it doesn’t have the same “we need new thinking about things” quality that a good Moose should have. Of all the candidates I’ve seen so far, I think Larry Lessig had the best version, here. Well worth watching –