A Luddite Library
“If the Luddites had never existed, their critics would have to invent them.” – Theodor Roszak One way of telling that controversies about technology are intensifying is to watch … Continue reading
The Internet is Broken. Can We Fix It? – A Review of Ben Tarnoff’s “Internet for the People”
Can you remember the moment when you first suspected that there was something wrong with the internet? Was it when you started to get creepily specific targeted ads? Was it … Continue reading
Where We’re Going, We’ll Probably Still Need Roads – a Review of Paris Marx’s “Road to Nowhere”
You can learn a lot about your society’s relationship to technology by looking at its streets. Are the roads filled with personal automobiles or trolley-cars, bike lanes or occupied parking … Continue reading
Is Big Data the Message? a Review of Natasha Lushetich’s “Big Data–A new Medium?”
When discussing the digital, conversations can quickly shift towards talk of quantity. Just how many images are being uploaded every hour, how many meticulously monitored purchases are being made on … Continue reading
How to Pick a Book for the Beach
“Reading is going toward something that is about to be, and no one yet knows what it will be.” – Italo Calvino At risk of being presumptuous, you seem … Continue reading
My Favorite Books from 2021
“We read books to find out who we are.” – Ursula K. Le Guin I would like to say that I spent 2021 alternating between reading related to my … Continue reading
Specters of Ludd – A Review of Gavin Mueller’s “Breaking Things at Work”
A specter is haunting technological society—the specter of Luddism. Granted, as is so often the case with hauntings, reactions to this specter are divided: there are some who are frightened, … Continue reading
Burn it All – a Review of “Your Computer is on Fire”
It often feels as though contemporary discussions about computers have perfected the art of talking around, but not specifically about, computers. Almost every week there is a new story about … Continue reading
How to keep from getting distracted when you are trying to read
There is far too much going on these days. Truly, the world is being very inconsiderate. How can someone like yourself be expected to get any reading done when there … Continue reading
My Favorite Books from 2020
“The only thing that goes against my pessimism is the fact that we still carry on thinking today.” – Max Horkheimer 2020 was a really great year…for books. For just … Continue reading
“The Tree of Science” an English translation of Eugene Huzar’s “L’arbre de la science” [Part 3]
“Indeed, what is the seduction of the flesh beside the seduction of science? Nothing; for the seduction of the flesh may well ruin a man, a people, a nation, an … Continue reading
Technology and the society we want to build – a review of the second edition of Langdon Winner’s “The Whale and the Reactor”
The announcement that Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan would be donating $300 million to help address some of the challenges COVID-19 poses for the 2020 elections was met with a … Continue reading
How to Move Your Books in the Middle of a Pandemic
When the world is gripped by a pandemic, there are many activities that need to be approached with a new level of caution. Masks, gloves, social distancing, especially thorough handwashing, … Continue reading
What is Happening In the Libraries While They Are Closed?
Libraries are generally fairly quiet places, and yet the near total silence that currently exists in many libraries is not the result of an overzealous librarian’s commitment to quiet. Instead, … Continue reading
What to do if you Encounter Paranormal Forces at the Library
Have you ever found yourself pleasantly working in the library when suddenly the lights flicker and the hairs on the back of your neck stand to attention? Have you ever … Continue reading
How Many Books Does a Person Need?
“The acquisition of books is by no means a matter of money or expert knowledge alone. Not even both factors together suffice for the establishment of a real library, which … Continue reading
The Show that Cries Wolf – On Black Mirror’s Fourth Season
If you had read the papers as carefully as I do You would have buried your hopes That things may yet get better. – Bertolt Brecht[1] Note: What follows is … Continue reading
My Favorite Books from 2017
Many people spent quite a lot of 2017 reading. Granted, they were probably reading the news. During 2017 it often felt as though you needed to check the headlines every … Continue reading
Living well in the technosocial world – a review of Shannon Vallor’s Technology and the Virtues
When new technologies are unveiled the conversation is usually dominated by excited comments regarding all of the things for which these newfangled devices or platforms will be good. This new … Continue reading
It’s time to fix things – a review of “Move Fast and Break Things”
When the topic of monopoly is raised the first person that many people will think of is Rich Uncle Pennybags – that icon of monopolistic wealth accumulation – with his … Continue reading
My Favorite Books from 2016
There are many piles of books that exist in my life. Many. But the most notable of these are “the books I’ve read” versus “the books that I want to … Continue reading
How to gut a book
Here is a problem: there are too many books to read and not enough time in which to read them all. What is one to do? Obviously, this is the … Continue reading
Into and out of the woods – a review of Captain Fantastic
Supermarkets, strip malls, smart phones, school – for many, such are the unexceptional features of daily life. And though some people may occasionally experience dissatisfaction with the society in which … Continue reading
How to move a large quantity of books
“Outside of a dog, a book is man’s best friend. Inside of a dog it’s too dark to read.” – Groucho Marx Regardless of what you may have heard to … Continue reading
An island of reason in the cyberstream – on the life and thought of Joseph Weizenbaum
The juxtaposition between the potential of technology and its actual manifestation can be rather jarring. Tools that promise to make tasks easier are used to automate people out of their … Continue reading
Rocks or ticker-tape? A review of Throwing Rocks at the Google Bus by Douglas Rushkoff
Digital technologies are often touted for their transformative potential. The Internet has made a massive amount of information easily accessible to its users, social media provides new ways of connecting, … Continue reading
Mars is still very far away – a review of McKenzie Wark’s book Molecular Red
There are some games where a single player wins, games where a group of players wins, and then there are games where all of the players can share equally in … Continue reading
AI and Drones and Bio-engineering, oh my! – A Review of A Dangerous Master by Wendell Wallach
Popular culture is lousy with tales of techno-science escaping human control. And as these stories — involving rebelling robots, murderous artificial intelligence systems, and genetically modified chimeras on a warpath … Continue reading
Beyond the Prototype: Libraries as Convivial Tools in Action
How important are the technologies found in a library to the actual library? Are libraries simply places where various tools and technologies are used, or can libraries (themselves) be viewed … Continue reading
Broadcasting Resistance – a review of Low Power to the People by Christina Dunbar-Hester
In trying to build a different tomorrow, activists find themselves using the tools of today. And quite often the tools of yesterday as well. The choice of which tools to … Continue reading
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