About book Hamlet's BlackBerry: A Practical Philosophy For Building A Good Life In The Digital Age (2010)
I had to read this for school last year and I was surprised. I'm glad to see this being incorporated into regular English school curriculum. It was a different summer read because it wasn't fiction, instead, straight quotes from philosophers and further discussion of each separate viewpoint/idea on how technology has and continues to change our world. I liked the approach in terms of educating an audience about our ever changing digital age and how face to face communication is withering, but it was quite repetitive. Props to the title and cover. A great look at how our life of "screens" affects us, primarily from an anecdotal and Western philosophical view point. Looking at his own experience, as well as the experiences of several different "philosophers" when it comes to technology, Powers provides both anecdotal evidence, tips and tricks, and thought provoking questions. While interesting to read about philosophers like Seneca, Plato (as Socrates), Shakespeare (as Hamlet), Thoreau, and McLuhan, sometimes the pieces seemed like a bit of a stretch (the section on Gutenberg especially). Especially enjoyable were the sections on Seneca, Thoreau, McLuhan, and Benjamin Franklin. It is easy enough to find a jargon-filled, scientific treatise on this subject (are we using screens/technology too much? Are we too connected?), it is quite another to find a readable, interesting philosophical "treatise" of it. A great read, and one I'd recommend to anyone with even a passing interest in technology, philosophy, the self, or Western culture both past and present.
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