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Rating: 
Summary: Read this and Postman
Review: Read this book and any book by Postman. IT's quick read, a little repetitive, but you'll learn a lot just from the stories he tells. I think he is exaggerating the effects of all this technology a little bit, but his points are valid. Comments about people thinking they are "gods" over nature or cyring about the death of their virtual reality fish; this is a major heads up. He comments about teople who aren't enjoying nature anymore by choice and who are plugged in to the net for days at a time.
Rating: 
Summary: The same thing. Over, and over, and over...
Review: The only reason I'm reading this book is for school reading. Otherwise, I would have put it down a long time ago. It's just the author venting about his dislike for technology and how he thinks that it's going to destroy mankind as we know it. I realized that the computer boom has its bad side effects, but Slouka takes it to the extreme, and her repeats the same thing over and over again. I don't find much value in his book except for disagreeing with him. Please, spare yourself.
Rating:
Summary: The same thing. Over, and over, and over...
Review: The only reason I'm reading this book is for school reading. Otherwise, I would have put it down a long time ago. It's just the author venting about his dislike for technology and how he thinks that it's going to destroy mankind as we know it. I realized that the computer boom has its bad side effects, but Slouka takes it to the extreme, and her repeats the same thing over and over again. I don't find much value in his book except for disagreeing with him. Please, spare yourself.
Rating:
Summary: Read this and Postman
Review: This book reads very quickly. Mark Slouka's writing style easily holds my attention to the end. Unfortunately he sacrifices depth of analysis for interesting rhetoric. This timely topic needs more thought and I think this book comes up way too shallow. Slouka's excellent writing abilities here seems to indicate that he could have taken more time and thought and come up with a better, more insightful book. He tries to steer a thoughtful middle course between technophilia and luddism, but I don't think that he really found it. Instead he clangs a lot on the rhetorical bells with a message that essentially comes down to, "pull your head out of cyberspace and live in the real world!" coupled with some vague paranoia about the "digerati's" plans for us. While that might grab the attention briefly, the realities of these issues come out as far more complex -- not every cyberspace junkie spends their time in MUUDs and in some cases cyberspace provides as much competition as encouragement for television watching. I know plenty of cybernauts who never watch any television at all. He did make some vague attempts at the end to tie this all down to some philosophy of essentialism, though he didn't elaborate much except to throw the words around rhetorically. I take Slouka's concerns seriously and share them. I recommend his book to the extent that he talks about things we all should talk about and also because the book reads quickly and easily without coming across like Mickey Mouse. But I find myself still waiting for the thoughtful alternative vision to unmitigated technophilia and outright luddism. The read seemed great while it lasted but left me ultimately unsatisfied and pretty much back where I started. Maybe it will inspire someone to do a more thoughtful analysis of these issues.
Rating: 
Summary: I Wanted More
Review: This book reads very quickly. Mark Slouka's writing style easily holds my attention to the end. Unfortunately he sacrifices depth of analysis for interesting rhetoric. This timely topic needs more thought and I think this book comes up way too shallow. Slouka's excellent writing abilities here seems to indicate that he could have taken more time and thought and come up with a better, more insightful book. He tries to steer a thoughtful middle course between technophilia and luddism, but I don't think that he really found it. Instead he clangs a lot on the rhetorical bells with a message that essentially comes down to, "pull your head out of cyberspace and live in the real world!" coupled with some vague paranoia about the "digerati's" plans for us. While that might grab the attention briefly, the realities of these issues come out as far more complex -- not every cyberspace junkie spends their time in MUUDs and in some cases cyberspace provides as much competition as encouragement for television watching. I know plenty of cybernauts who never watch any television at all. He did make some vague attempts at the end to tie this all down to some philosophy of essentialism, though he didn't elaborate much except to throw the words around rhetorically. I take Slouka's concerns seriously and share them. I recommend his book to the extent that he talks about things we all should talk about and also because the book reads quickly and easily without coming across like Mickey Mouse. But I find myself still waiting for the thoughtful alternative vision to unmitigated technophilia and outright luddism. The read seemed great while it lasted but left me ultimately unsatisfied and pretty much back where I started. Maybe it will inspire someone to do a more thoughtful analysis of these issues.
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