Book Description Review “Axelrod makes a compelling argument for drawing a new kind of map, one that helps us as we search and stumble between the borderlines of our digital and physical worlds . . . he meditates on the ways our screens are changing our relationship to time, space, and each other, while dipping into philosophy, astronomy, neuroscience, and poetry. Like his memoir, it’s an intimate book; he discusses big themes, big ideas, but the feel is as though you are leaning in close across a table in a dimly lit space.”—The Boston Globe“Poetic, ruminative, and never preachy, this book is a game changer for readers who yearn to see beyond 240 characters.”—Booklist, Starred Review“A provocative inquiry . . . Refreshingly, Axelrod doesn’t deliver a screed against cybertechnology but rather a series of philosophical meditations on the consequences of connecting ourselves digitally to the point where the realm of the screen is a world unto itself.”—Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review“Axelrod provides powerful arguments against today’s all-encompassing digital world in this concise and insightful meditation.” —Publishers Weekly“Timely, essential, generous…Put down your phone and read this book. Maybe even get your friends to read it, too, and then have the kinds of conversations about it that can’t be had on social media.”—Chicago TribunePraise for The Point of Vanishing“What makes his book completely mesmerizing—besides his lovely prose, that is—is how exquisitely it balances between the poles of revelation and disintegration. At times, in the depths of winter, when Axelrod becomes preoccupied with observing the changing color of shadows on the snow, he seems on the verge of a transcendent understanding of how to exist entirely in the present.” —Slate Book Review “Mr. Axelrod is clearly a gifted writer . . . The best thing about Mr. Axelrod’s frequently absorbing book is how idiosyncratic it feels; he is a unique presence on the page.”—New York Times Daily Review Read more About the Author Howard Axelrod is the author of The Point of Vanishing: A Memoir of Two Years in Solitude, named one of the best books of 2015 by Slate, the Chicago Tribune, and Entropy Magazine, and one of the best memoirs of 2015 by Library Journal. His essays have appeared in the New York Times Magazine, O Magazine, Politico, Salon, the Virginia Quarterly Review, the Boston Globe, and the Paris Review. He has taught at Harvard, the University of Arizona, and is currently the director of the Creative Writing Program at Loyola University in Chicago. Connect with him at howardaxelrod.com. Read more Customers Review: Alexrod extends his very singular journey from self selected solitude and aloneness to re entry into our present hand held world. How to best survive and find meaning to our lives. It is a tortuous and unrelenting journey for him and often for the reader. The richness of his literary and cultural references add a layer or layers of complexity to his and ultimately to our search for meaning and purpose. Clearly more than Stars in our hidden pocket; rather ideas and aspirations that are part of our heart and spirit.
I loved his first book. This book is very different from his first book, but he tells wonderful stories, has data which I found fascinating and I highly recommend his book. To that which you give attention to grows…. and in this digital world, well, each of us has his/ her own opinion of social media. What do you want to do with your life? How do you want to spend your time? How can social media change your brain? That’s the bottom line. Your choice~
The new normal is that just about everyone is on board with, literally, living on a smartphone. Your selfish little world where you become self absorbed, the center of attention and can manipulate your perceived personality. Now, the first generation in history that doesn’t know a life without a smartphone have become adults. The author gained a new perspective on the world after an accident that left him blind in one eye. The author, reminisces about childhood experiences imprinted in our minds that we can remember and relive. We knew what it was like to get lost on vacation and experience finding our way again. You talk to people. Use your brain to figure out how to read a map. Enjoy the unexpected detour. Not wait a few seconds for Google to recalculate your route. You did research for a school report by spending hours in the library interacting with people, searching the card catalog, walking the rows of books, using your brain to search for meaningful text, using paper and a pen to copy it down. Not, “okay Google” from your sofa. You asked your parents for permission to visit your friend down the street so you could talk, play games, ride your bike together, bond, enjoy the outdoors and meet new friends. Not online gaming in your bedroom with a total stranger in another city or country that you will never meet. Life experiences condition us to cope, learn and have empathy for one another. This has been lost on the latest generation. Will the next generation even need to interact with real humans in a real environment? What will happen to the wiring of their brains now that there is no need to remember anything? Their entire life experience, the photos, video, conversations, email, internet searches, virtual friends, purchase history, gaming, even their eye movement is being recorded for profit by major corporations? We are being lied to and manipulated into a mass consciousness by an unseen and unknown wizard. Will our souls notice, or care? Humans throughout history have had a way of persevering, adapting and being there for one another. Will that still the case now that Silicon Valley rewired our brains?
This book let me down hard. I was expecting at least a few facts along with references about how our entering the time of cyber is affecting us like the changes telephones, movies and cameras brought to the world. That list is hardly comprehensive. Every time new technology blooms, there are complaints from the old guard that are correct in a very narrow way but which, in the end, turns out to be just some old grumps complaining about the present.Here, we don’t have someone I’d call an old grump but we do have a self-identified Luddite who brags about his disdain for cell phones, for example. Rather than factual information backed up by legitimate studies, we have ruminations and grumblings. The author lost an eye in an accident. That changed his vision and therefore his way of seeing the world. He then goes on to wonder about other changes that may alter the way we interact together and how we see our universe.That’d be a fine launching place for a study but instead, we get just rambling stories laced with editorials from the author mostly since this is told in the first person. He includes a few others as examples. At the start of each chapter, there’s a series of definitions which, I suppose, the author thought he was expanding upon in the forthcoming text. He may have succeeded but I was unable to detect that he had.This is an amazing book to me since I read every word or, at worst, missed a few, but in the end, came out of it not having gained any knowledge, insight or enjoyment from the effort. |
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