Rate this book

The Digital Divide: Arguments For And Against Facebook, Google, Texting, And The Age Of Social Networking (2011)

by Mark Bauerlein(Favorite Author)

3.46 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

1585428868 (ISBN13: 9781585428861)

languge

English

genre

Nonfiction

publisher

Tarcher

review 1: Not being very knowledgeable (deplorably so), about the cyber world, this book was hugely enlightening for me. A collection of articles about the effects of our wired world, shed some interesting light on the technology I use on a daily basis without really understanding much about it. It's difficult for me to review this, because I have very little to compare it too. For me it was certainly helpful, would that be the case for someone more familiar with the subject, I'm not sure. What matters is that it piqued my interest to learn more, and so I'm in search of other books that also deal with digital reality.
review 2: An interesting collection of essays on digital and social media. As I was reading, I had the sense that this book was written by people a bit old... moreer than me, primarily for the benefit of people a bit older than them, arguing that people a bit younger than me will change the world for the better.Despite the title, the book is weighted heavily toward the "pro" side, and these essays also tend to be more convincing; Lee Siegel's "con" article, toward the end of the book, is extraordinarily condescending, with Siegel willfully misreading both the language and substance of his opponents' viewpoints in a cranky misfire of a hit piece. There are other problems, though; some of the essays and excerpts are more than ten years old, which is a problem when considering the present and future of a rapidly-evolving system. More than a few reference Friendster as an ongoing concern. Nevertheless, there are some fascinating insights from several able writers, notably Douglas Rushkoff and Tim O'Reilly. The final two essays in the collection, by William Deresiewicz (which includes a measure of pro and con) and Clay Shirky are thoroughly intriguing and allow the volume to wrap up on a few very thought-provoking notes. less

Download links for: The Digital Divide: Arguments for and Against Facebook, Google, Texting, and the Age of Social Networking

Advertising