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The Blind Giant
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The digital age. An age of isolation, warped communication, disintegrating community. Where unfiltered and unregulated information pours relentlessly into our lives, destroying what it means to be human. Or an age of marvels. Where there is a world of wonder at our fingertips. Where we can communicate across the globe, learn in the blink of an eye, pull down the barriers t
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Hardcover, 352 pages
Published
June 2012
by John Murray
(first published January 1st 2012)
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If you want my full review go here
http://www.newcommbiz.com/the-future-...
Most interesting to me though, is that this is a book about the disruption of technology, by a writer who is the child of writers (Nick’s father is John le Carré). Nick has grown up in one of the industries most disrupted by technology, and being a member of Generation X, Nick grew up during the time that technology itself has grown up.
While Nick himself may be an early adopter and a power user of social media he also mad ...more
http://www.newcommbiz.com/the-future-...
Most interesting to me though, is that this is a book about the disruption of technology, by a writer who is the child of writers (Nick’s father is John le Carré). Nick has grown up in one of the industries most disrupted by technology, and being a member of Generation X, Nick grew up during the time that technology itself has grown up.
While Nick himself may be an early adopter and a power user of social media he also mad ...more
An interesting book. The beginning is a bit slow (at least for someone like me who lives with a serious tech guy, and who is old enough to remember the birth of the web), as it's rather a potted history of the Internet, but it picks up when it gets to Harkaway's specific ideas about the intersection of technology and the book world.
I'm curious about his view of social media, though. He says he looks at how many people a person is following (on Twitter, say), not just how many followers they have ...more
I'm curious about his view of social media, though. He says he looks at how many people a person is following (on Twitter, say), not just how many followers they have ...more
In my current, “I’m-all-about-the-non-fiction” phase (I get one, every so often) I just finished reading Nick Harkaway’s new book The Blind Giant. The simple verdict, it’s good, go read it.
Longer version - yes, I was pre-disposed to like it, I like digital stuff and tech, I like thinking about the impact that they’re going to have, I like Nick Harkaway and his writing (otherwise I probably wouldn’t have bought the hardback). I also like the cover. It pretty.
I also really quite like the approach ...more
Longer version - yes, I was pre-disposed to like it, I like digital stuff and tech, I like thinking about the impact that they’re going to have, I like Nick Harkaway and his writing (otherwise I probably wouldn’t have bought the hardback). I also like the cover. It pretty.
I also really quite like the approach ...more
Always fascinating, this is a clear-headed counterpoint to the prevailing "technolgiez is destryin arr youths" myths that float around on (of all places) Facebook. You know the ones, "I grew up playing with mud and I turned out alright! Ok, some of my friends died of dysentery, but, still..."
The point that Mr. Harkaway keeps coming back to, is that technology is just another tool. The difference with the internet, most specifically the mobile internet, is that we've allowed into our homes produc ...more
The point that Mr. Harkaway keeps coming back to, is that technology is just another tool. The difference with the internet, most specifically the mobile internet, is that we've allowed into our homes produc ...more
Although this book was published the better part of the decade ago, its analyses reveal so much about our relationship to the internet today that it bears reading right now – especially as some of the questions that it poses are hot on the tongues of many today.
An interesting read on the topic of digital era. Prior to this book, I've read You Are Not A Gadget by Jaron Lanier, The Digital Divide by Mark Bauerlein and Alone Together by Sherry Turkle. Those three books, while I admit are well written, detailed and persuasive, lack a bit of 'spice'. I don't even know what the missing ingredient is until I read The Blind Giant.
What's missing from many other books about digital lifestyle is 'humbleness'. Funny, right? The Blind Giant works for me, especiall ...more
What's missing from many other books about digital lifestyle is 'humbleness'. Funny, right? The Blind Giant works for me, especiall ...more
Pity the cyclops because when he literally gets blind drunk, in The Odyssey, things stay bad. One minute he's buzzed; the next, he's feeling up the sheep.
Nick Harkaway's book The Blind Giant: Being Human in a Digital World is more optimistic. He set out to write the book to counter the argument that new technology is responsible for our contemporary ills.
I agree with his thesis. I've long believed that technological advances don't regress in the face of nostalgia for a past that, honestly, wa
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A look at some of the issues we're currently or soon to be facing as technology relentlessly permeates into our lives. A fairly quick read the book puts forward a lot of interesting moral, technological and political ideas that provide plenty of food for though for the interested reader.
Although the book starts with a look at two possible futures (one dystopian and one utopian) the majority of the book concerns itself with the immediate future - some of the issues at first glance might seem like ...more
Although the book starts with a look at two possible futures (one dystopian and one utopian) the majority of the book concerns itself with the immediate future - some of the issues at first glance might seem like ...more
Other than with his two novels (The Gone-Away World and Angelmaker) Harkaway does as an essayist not challenge his readers with eccentric prose and extravagant flights of fancy. (BTW: Which is not meant a a diss against his novels … both are brilliant!) — He offers an thematically wide ranged (and sometimes personal) examination of the merits and dangers, the possibilities and changes that come with the rise of information technology, especially the internet. He avoids elegantly not to be too op
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Jul 30, 2012
Erin
marked it as to-read
Preliminary Note: To those Americans who have been just as frustrated with the hard-copy procurement process and backasswards publishing decisions surrounding this book (we know it's not your fault, Nick!), Strand Bookstore in NYC might have a copy (Union Sq location)! That is where I found mine (hardcover), and I didn't pay an arm and a leg for it.
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I prefer my ideas wrapped around fiction, so must look out for this author. I enjoyed reading this balanced yet personal account of the many new aspects the digital era brings. Lots to think about, appealingly presented. He has a real gift for the perfect metaphor. Trying to hit his tai chi teacher was 'like trying to put handcuffs on a trout!'
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Harkaway's keen observations and ability to synthesize perspectives from all over the map are first-rate, and suffice to merit 4 stars. The quality of his writing per se, and the abundant humor and humanity that permeate these pages earn the 5th. Outstanding.
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Nick writes another winner!
I've read all Nick's fiction and I love it. This is very informative, an easy read and a wonderful resource for more cognitive studies. Thanks Mr Harkaway ...more
I've read all Nick's fiction and I love it. This is very informative, an easy read and a wonderful resource for more cognitive studies. Thanks Mr Harkaway ...more
A little less innovative than I expected as far as conversations about advance technologies but still thought provoking.
I was enjoying this until I left it in Plymouth...
May 28, 2012
Nancy Stringer
added it
How do we continue to be human in this digital world?
Some good points but I found this a bit of a struggle http://themelican.blogspot.co.uk/2013...
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Nice though provoking insights into what technology has brought in to the human lives. His arguments are too congested and fast paced, i could not comprehend as an amature reader. Great book though
It's a pleasent read, but I didn't found any new idea in it.
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Reviewed for The Oz. Fantastic book. Such clear and intelligent writing.
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Nick Harkaway was born in Cornwall, UK in 1972. He is possessed of two explosively exciting eyebrows, which exert an almost hypnotic attraction over small children, dogs, and - thankfully - one ludicrously attractive human rights lawyer, to whom he is married.
He likes: oceans, mountains, lakes, valleys, and those little pigs made of marzipan they have in Switzerland at new year.
He does not like: b ...more
He likes: oceans, mountains, lakes, valleys, and those little pigs made of marzipan they have in Switzerland at new year.
He does not like: b ...more
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“A desire for privacy does not imply shameful secrets; Moglen argues, again and again, that without anonymity in discourse, free speech is impossible, and hence also democracy. The right to speak the truth to power does not shield the speaker from the consequences of doing so; only comparable power or anonymity can do that.”
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