Tag Archives: Internet

Book Review:  Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It by Cory Doctorow

Lest anyone should conclude that the title of this book is merely a blatant foul-mouthed outcry for reader attention, Doctorow states in the acknowledgement section that “in late 2023, the American Dialect Society named enshittification their Word of the Year.” … Continue reading

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Book Review: The Internet Con: How to Seize the Means of Computation by Cory Doctorow

Recently I took a bus to a bookstore in North Seattle to attend a reading of a new book by Cory Doctorow. It turned out to be not so much a reading as a discussion between Doctorow and Neal Stephenson, … Continue reading

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Book Review: LikeWar: The Weaponization of Social Media by P.W. Singer and Emerson T. Brooking

Prefacing the conclusion to this riveting and terrifying book is a famous quote by Stewart Brand: “We are as gods and we might as well get good at it.” Brand was the editor of the original Whole Earth Catalog, which … Continue reading

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Book Review: The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution by Walter Isaacson

This is one of those rarities among books:  fascinating, well-written, and just the right length for what it sets out to do.  It tells the story of the creation of computers, programming, the transistor, the microchip, video games, the Internet, … Continue reading

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Book Review: Smarter Than You Think: How Technology Is Changing Our Lives for the Better by Clive Thompson

I got hold of this book fairly quickly from my trusty public library soon after reading Nicholas Carr’s book “The Shallows”.  I didn’t like the Carr book.  It was negative and reactionary about ubiquitous technology that is here to stay.  … Continue reading

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Book Review: The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains by Nicholas Carr

I didn’t like this book.  There was too much in it I didn’t agree with.  I thought I would like it, and I wanted to like it.  It’s on a subject I am very interested in, the use of the … Continue reading

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