While I understand the benefits the author presented about having many small packages, I still wonder what kind of effect this has on resolving overlapping dependencies.
EX: I have package X that depends on A, B, and C and I decide to use package Y that depends on C, D, and E.
D and E may very well be an alternative implementation of A and B, given the large number of packages and a finite solution space.
On the one hand it's easy to think that the best libraries for a particular task will rise to the top, but as a newer node dev, having to reinvent so many wheels for use in node is not very attractive. (However, this is almost counteracted by having to only write in one language).