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32nd out of 154 books
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28 voters
Faster: The Acceleration of Just About Everything
by
James Gleick
From the bestselling, National Book Award-nominated auhtor of Genius and Chaos, a bracing new work about the accelerating pace of change in today's world.
Most of us suffer some degree of "hurry sickness." a malady that has launched us into the "epoch of the nanosecond," a need-everything-yesterday sphere dominated by cell phones, computers, faxes, and remote controls. Yet...more
Most of us suffer some degree of "hurry sickness." a malady that has launched us into the "epoch of the nanosecond," a need-everything-yesterday sphere dominated by cell phones, computers, faxes, and remote controls. Yet...more
Paperback, 330 pages
Published
September 5th 2000
by Vintage
(first published January 1st 1999)
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On time, our experience and measure of it, and particularly our accelerating life perspective, propelled by equally exponential technological advance. Written in 1999, the book loses little strength of argument since the reader can easily mentally update the most recent exemplar technologies and statistics (e.g. # of websites on topic x). Indeed, the intervening decade actually bolsters Gleick's point on progress, as the trends described herein have proven relatively robust and astute, becoming...more
An OK book. It's written for a somewhat pop audience and contains few revelations. However there is an interesting section towards the end where he discusses the limits of speed and uses the example of the disabled "close door" buttons on newer skyscraper elevators which exist only so that people can press them and believe that they are causing the doors to close faster when they stay open for the same time regardless.
After reading Gleick’s Chaos in 1989 and The Information this year, I was anticipating Faster. What a letdown. Chaos and The Information rocked. Faster just plodded along.
In his profile, David Giltinan cites 10 common sources of disappointment in a book. The first is “Failed to match brilliance of author's previous work.” That was certainly the case here. Another distraction is this edition is an audio book, read by Gleick. His reading wasn’t engaging.
The other GR reviews cover the content, ho...more
In his profile, David Giltinan cites 10 common sources of disappointment in a book. The first is “Failed to match brilliance of author's previous work.” That was certainly the case here. Another distraction is this edition is an audio book, read by Gleick. His reading wasn’t engaging.
The other GR reviews cover the content, ho...more
This book is great. The acceleration of society/culture by way of technology is a subject that interests me greatly, maybe more than any other, so this book was right up my alley. Perhaps the most amazing thing about Faster is, despite its being almost a decade old, it's still entirely relevant. Aside from the lack of talk about iPods an iPhones, it doesn't seem dated at all. This is especially noteworthy considering the book's premise, which claims that a decade, these days, is an eternity.
If t...more
If t...more
I loved it. A straight forward, brief and insightful history of time. A refreshing view — to look at a measure that man invented and then obsessed upon. Prior to this read, it was too easy to think of time as a thing of nature. Gleick’s topic, is really his canvas. On it, he paints the history of progress aided by man’s inventions. For example, time from town to town was never in sync down to the minute until railroad schedules and the telegraph made it an obvious necessity. One of the optimisti...more
When I made my piece about the Heart, I read a lot of books about it and enjoyed little bits of all of them. Then, I read one that summed it all up and seemed to get at exactly many of the things I wanted to explore. (Louisa Young's Book of the Heart, just in case you're curious) Faster is THAT book but for Time.
In pretty much every chapter I found myself thinking, "Yes! That's - yes! I hadn't thought of things quite like that. Damn!" All this time I was thinking I wanted to make a piece about...more
In pretty much every chapter I found myself thinking, "Yes! That's - yes! I hadn't thought of things quite like that. Damn!" All this time I was thinking I wanted to make a piece about...more
Essays on how people and machines and life in general is just going faster and faster. The funny thing is he talks about the internet and mobile phones and things like that, and it was written in 1998! So it's weirdly dated. Some interesting factoids--many elevators have their 'door closed' button disabled. The button is just there to make people feel like they have something to do. People are terrible at estimating how much time they spent doing one thing or another. But the datedness was too d...more
Mr. Gleick throws out a topic of interest to his readers: people are trying to cram more things into their day, and he looks at some of the reasons for this as well as the consequences of it. Faster is a really neat idea, but it has a tendency to read like an essay (or investigative newspaper article) that has been filled out to book length. There is nothing inherently wrong with doing that, but the chapters tend to start fast and then plod along, straying from the theme of the chapter and book....more
This was a great, quick read, and though written in 1999, the ideas and issues presented are as pertinent as ever. An easy essay read on various facets of how technology is shaping society with mutitasking, emails, information overload and a sheer feeling of lack of time as our everyday pace quickens. Ten years later, the world has accelerated far more than even this book portends with flash trading, texting, twitter, digital downloads, and the enormous capacity of the web. But in essence, it is...more
Aug 11, 2011
Ketan Shah
added it
James Gleick looks at time,and our perception of it. He does a good job at describing how the faster pace of life affects everything we do,and how we perceive our world. I especially enjoyed the section on the measurement of time ,and also the chapter on the acceleration of media with "MTV" style editing becoming the norm.Some of the later chapters seem a bit hurried (of course) ,but it's still very worth reading. If you enjoyed this ,you'd probably enjoy the work of Malcolm Gladwell and also Da...more
This book, even a tad dated to pre-Y2K, did one whale of a job of listing the ways our lives are fast and becoming faster. He really went all out to find and describe ways our lives seem to be going faster and faster.
At about 75% of the book, I was hoping for some strategies to cope. But nope. No strategies to cope, only more ways to count how fast we are seemingly becoming.
In the last chapter he did approach some interesting thoughts and themes, but then the book was over.
Adding it to the 'read...more
At about 75% of the book, I was hoping for some strategies to cope. But nope. No strategies to cope, only more ways to count how fast we are seemingly becoming.
In the last chapter he did approach some interesting thoughts and themes, but then the book was over.
Adding it to the 'read...more
I read this book while eating various meals, while sitting in the car waiting for a school bus to arrive, while brushing my teeth (even while flossing), while also being a spectator at various events, and to fill in many many different odd moments that came along (for I am never without a book). I layered the reading of this book with many different experiences, making more of my minutes and seconds since I can't erase any more of my free time... there just isn't any left. While reading this boo...more
Although some sections of the book were dated to the point of irrelevance, the majority of the book was thought-provoking and still applicable. There is even an author's note at the end stating that a book about our ever increasing dependence on technology and increasing the speed of our lives became outdated in the months between the time it was written and the time it was published. Still, I found the ideas the author discussed- about our culture's need for speed and how it has spawned our col...more
I read this book during a week holiday in the Okavango Swamps (Botswana) at the turn of the Millennium ... after a decade of burning the candle at both ends and living Internet years.
Gleick is one of the small handful of popular science writers able to spin a delightful series of yarns to make his point.
His final big bit of advice: our species needs to learn how to squander copious amounts of time, again. A profound bit of advice, if one can find the time to think about it, let alone implement...more
Gleick is one of the small handful of popular science writers able to spin a delightful series of yarns to make his point.
His final big bit of advice: our species needs to learn how to squander copious amounts of time, again. A profound bit of advice, if one can find the time to think about it, let alone implement...more
I just finished reading Faster: The Acceleration of Just About
Everything by James Gleick. (Ironically enough, not a quick read.) The basic thesis of the book is that our modern culture is obsessed with the notion of speed and the acceleration of everyday actions is a driving force in our technological and even political developments. Each chapter takes an aspect, object or idea and examines its development in context. Elevators, watches, cars, commercials, almost everything is touched on. He dis...more
Everything by James Gleick. (Ironically enough, not a quick read.) The basic thesis of the book is that our modern culture is obsessed with the notion of speed and the acceleration of everyday actions is a driving force in our technological and even political developments. Each chapter takes an aspect, object or idea and examines its development in context. Elevators, watches, cars, commercials, almost everything is touched on. He dis...more
I was tricked! I thought this was a book about physics (with the alluring word "acceleration" in the title), but it turned out to be more social and behavioral science than anything else. I still really enjoyed it though, as James Gleick once again proved his versatility as a writer.
All the little nuances, the winks and nods to the quirkiest of human predilections and paranoias, were what made this book such a joy to read. And that seems to be Gleick's style, which works in any genre.
My inner j...more
All the little nuances, the winks and nods to the quirkiest of human predilections and paranoias, were what made this book such a joy to read. And that seems to be Gleick's style, which works in any genre.
My inner j...more
An interesting read. I was a big fan of his "Chaos" a number of years ago, and this is almost as fascinating. Almost - I found it tended to touch rather too lightly on its subjects, as if to secure the reader's waning attention span with short glossy chapters. I also suspect it would have made more of an impression upon me when it came out at the end of the last millenium, rather than today, when many people are all too familiar with the symptoms of time deprivation. Good, but light, reading.
Written around 1999, this book is a little out of date, but it's no different than reading "How to live on 24hrs a Day" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_L...) which was written in 1910, and deals with the same issues of our lives speeding up and lost leisure time (that book was also excellent BTW). Worth a read, and a chuckle at the outdated references to "fast" download speeds of 500kbps or the internet being a whole 6TB! :p
The book was an interesting read, at least. It wasn't especially riveting or alternative from other books of its class, but it offered some peculiar (And generally true) anecdotes regarding time and the human treatment of it. At its best, it allowed me to pause and reflect on my own attitude and use of things such as watches, digital clocks, elevators, telescopes even. At its worst, it was dry and a moderate bore to labor through.
[Listened to audiobook] I can't imagine a book that better captures the frenetic pace of the world today. From elevators that move so quickly that they require a stop in a pressure equalizing lobby before making the rest of the trip to the 'real time' world of the Internet, Gleick once again explores the world around us in terms that are relatable and fascinating.
Gleick catalogs numerous ways in which western culture is driven by go, go, Go! Some meme are quite funny, and insightful. Others, upon self reflection, are sad. "So what," you might say after reading this book, just as I did. His conclusion, maybe lacking but I took away a few things. Every generation sees the symptoms of mania (rapid speech, racing thoughts, decreased need for sleep, hypersexuality, euphoria, impulsiveness, grandiosity, and increased interest in goal-directed activities) in th...more
The dichotomy - more time saving devices and technologies vs not enough time in a day... - ... save time for more leisure vs how to 'fill' up that leisure with acceptable, profitable activities...
our obsession with seconds... milliseconds...
the book is full of information and surveys about how people use time, and how that has changed in the last hundred... fifty... ten... one year as radio/TV/internet/cell phones/etc. have interacted with people to be what they are...
and that in many ways, pe...more
our obsession with seconds... milliseconds...
the book is full of information and surveys about how people use time, and how that has changed in the last hundred... fifty... ten... one year as radio/TV/internet/cell phones/etc. have interacted with people to be what they are...
and that in many ways, pe...more
Lacks a thorough analysis of the core of development towards a faster-moving, time-conscious society and instead simply sums up all the aspects of current life that have become 'faster' than they were before. I know we're all time-conscious, but I want to know: why? Gleick fails to enlighten us. Boring.
Okay, this will sound weird, but I wanted the book to move along more quickly. :) I did like the points that he was making, especially the one about the increased instability in the stock market and the one about humans and our natural inclination toward speed.
Excellent topic.
It is scary what people do to make their lives faster. One person bought a water-proof transistor radio so he could listen to the news while he took a shower.
Ghandi said, "Speed is not everything."
It is scary what people do to make their lives faster. One person bought a water-proof transistor radio so he could listen to the news while he took a shower.
Ghandi said, "Speed is not everything."
This is the book where you begin to get a better appreciation of the link between technology, perception and psychology. Smart, well written and a provocative inquiry into the reality of speed and our addiction to it.
I read this during the Dot Com bubble, when I was working 12-16 hour days. It's what stopped me doing that. It's a nice meditation of the effects of a society which is increasingly precise and increasingly over loaded.
Some interesting tidbits, but it didn't really feel like I "learned" anything. It seemed like more of a confirmation that the busy-ness I feel is not my imagination. It was a good exploration of the "downsides" to technological advances that have speeded things up.
Likes: Some interesting examples of the hurried pace of Western lifestyles.
Dislikes: Opinionated ramblings without any explanation or defense of the opinion. Like listening to an old man complain about how the world has changed.
Dislikes: Opinionated ramblings without any explanation or defense of the opinion. Like listening to an old man complain about how the world has changed.
This book was outdated by the time it was printed, and ten years later, the concepts come across as quaint. Nonetheless, the discussion of time measurement and importance was interesting and remains relevant.
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James Gleick (born August 1, 1954) is an American author, journalist, and biographer, whose books explore the cultural ramifications of science and technology. Three of these books have been Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalists, and they have been translated into more than twenty languages.
Born in New York City, USA, Gleick attended Harvard College, graduating in 1976 with a degree in...more
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Born in New York City, USA, Gleick attended Harvard College, graduating in 1976 with a degree in...more
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“When the Lilliputians first saw Gulliver's watch, that "wonderful kind of engine...a globe, half silver and half of some transparent metal," they identified it immediately as the god he worshiped. After all, "he seldom did anything without consulting it: he called it his oracle, and said it pointed out the time for every action in his life." To Jonathan Swift in 1726 that was worth a bit of satire. Modernity was under way. We're all Gullivers now. Or are we Yahoos?”
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I liked faster too, but felt it was lacking a bit in the way of theory. I've started a blog that aims to extend and develop some of the idea...more
May 15, 2010 02:11pm