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Touching (volunteering by albert garcia), precise (understanding the zombie invasion by erik lars meyers), informative (writing without writing by jael mchenry), thoughtful (the jackson 5 by jason gilmore), prescient (bang! you're a dork by joe procopio), political (the times they czar a changin' by joe redden tigan), clever (25 random things about the internet by michelle von euw), honest (find a couch on craigslist by maigen thomas), snarky (pray pride parade by mike julianelle), comforting (holy crap we're all gonna die by russ carr), encouraging (they can do it and so can you by sarah ficke), pointed (whimper not a scream by tracey kelley), funny (i don't want to be a little teapot by adam kraemer), cautionary (memoirs of an anti-geisha part iii by alex b).

I thoroughly enjoyed THE INTERNET IS ALWAYS RIGHT, a well-balanced mix of short slice-of-life pieces, written in a wide range of styles. Clean, crisp, funny, practical, thought provoking. Well done!

If you want to read something that makes you feel like somebody out there understands you, or even if you want to read something that lets you see things in a different way in a fun and engaging way, Intrepid Media's 2009 and third volume of great writing collections is it. And if you like this, you should also try IM's two other collections from 2007 and 2008, which are also available at Lulu.com.

I own the 2008 book and I downloaded the 2009 pre-release and got pulled in right away. I want to say "This book is light-hearted romp through 2009" and in some places it is. It's funny and full of pop-culture references that I get. But there are other pieces that are sobering and severe, and they work with the rest of the book. Mike Julienelle and Joe Procopio make me laugh out loud. Jason Gilmore is sexy and poetic. I'd love to have a beer with Michele Von Euw. On a tangent, I see that Jael McHenry landed a publishing deal this year. She is my hero.

Intrepid Media brings the internet full circle, anthologizing the cream of intrepidmedia.com’s crop in this annual hard copy medium. Its benefits are two-fold: serving as a great time capsule for the past year, and employing stellar writing from multiple authors in all walks of life to do so. If the best ideas are the simplest, bringing the irreverent, intelligent and conscientious tones of the internet to the portability of a book has to be a great idea.