Yesterday I started reading Jaron Lanier’s [amazon_link id=”0307389979″ target=”_blank” ]You Are Not A Gadget[/amazon_link]. The intro to the paperback recommends an E.M. Forster story, The Machine Stops, calling it a “preternatural oracle of internet culture”. I must say, the theme of the story seems to me the highly familiar one of ‘techno-anxiety (over-dependence)’. I’m sure I read something similar by Andre Norton or Ursula Leguin in my teens – kudos to anyone who can remember which novel I mean. However, reading the Forster (‘Only connect!’) has certainly illustrated Lanier’s mindset, so I know more or less what to expect from You Are Not A Gadget.

[amazon_image id=”0307389979″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]You Are Not a Gadget: A Manifesto (Vintage)[/amazon_image]