Against the Machine

Being Human in the Age of the Electronic Mob

Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Cultural Studies, Popular Culture, Political Science, Politics
Cover of the book Against the Machine by Lee Siegel, Random House Publishing Group
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Lee Siegel ISBN: 9780385525664
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group Publication: January 22, 2008
Imprint: Spiegel & Grau Language: English
Author: Lee Siegel
ISBN: 9780385525664
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Publication: January 22, 2008
Imprint: Spiegel & Grau
Language: English

From the author hailed by the New York Times Book Review for his “drive-by brilliance” and dubbed by the New York Times Magazine as “one of the country’s most eloquent and acid-tongued critics” comes a ruthless challenge to the conventional wisdom about the most consequential cultural development of our time: the Internet.

Of course the Internet is not one thing or another; if anything, its boosters claim, the Web is everything at once. It’s become not only our primary medium for communication and information but also the place we go to shop, to play, to debate, to find love. Lee Siegel argues that our ever-deepening immersion inlife online doesn’t just reshape the ordinary rhythms of our days; it also reshapes our minds and culture, in ways with which we haven’t yet reckoned. The web and its cultural correlatives and by-products—such as the dominance of reality television and the rise of the “bourgeois bohemian”—have turned privacy into performance, play into commerce, and confused “self-expression” with art. And even as technology gurus ply their trade usingthe language of freedom and democracy, we cede more and more control of our freedom and individuality to the needs of the machine—that confluence of business and technology whose boundaries now stretch to encompass almost all human activity.

Siegel’s argument isn’t a Luddite intervention against the Internet itself but rather a bracing appeal for us to contend with howit is transforming us all. Dazzlingly erudite, full of startlingly original insights, and buoyed by sharp wit, Against the Machine will force you to see our culture—for better and worse—in an entirely new way.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

From the author hailed by the New York Times Book Review for his “drive-by brilliance” and dubbed by the New York Times Magazine as “one of the country’s most eloquent and acid-tongued critics” comes a ruthless challenge to the conventional wisdom about the most consequential cultural development of our time: the Internet.

Of course the Internet is not one thing or another; if anything, its boosters claim, the Web is everything at once. It’s become not only our primary medium for communication and information but also the place we go to shop, to play, to debate, to find love. Lee Siegel argues that our ever-deepening immersion inlife online doesn’t just reshape the ordinary rhythms of our days; it also reshapes our minds and culture, in ways with which we haven’t yet reckoned. The web and its cultural correlatives and by-products—such as the dominance of reality television and the rise of the “bourgeois bohemian”—have turned privacy into performance, play into commerce, and confused “self-expression” with art. And even as technology gurus ply their trade usingthe language of freedom and democracy, we cede more and more control of our freedom and individuality to the needs of the machine—that confluence of business and technology whose boundaries now stretch to encompass almost all human activity.

Siegel’s argument isn’t a Luddite intervention against the Internet itself but rather a bracing appeal for us to contend with howit is transforming us all. Dazzlingly erudite, full of startlingly original insights, and buoyed by sharp wit, Against the Machine will force you to see our culture—for better and worse—in an entirely new way.

More books from Random House Publishing Group

Cover of the book A Night of Forever by Lee Siegel
Cover of the book Lord of the Vampires by Lee Siegel
Cover of the book My Father's Bonus March by Lee Siegel
Cover of the book Acing the College Application by Lee Siegel
Cover of the book Blood and Iron (American Empire, Book One) by Lee Siegel
Cover of the book Controlling Cholesterol the Natural Way by Lee Siegel
Cover of the book The Cleaner by Lee Siegel
Cover of the book Making Peace with Your Parents by Lee Siegel
Cover of the book Pillowtalk by Lee Siegel
Cover of the book About Last Night by Lee Siegel
Cover of the book Another Day in the Frontal Lobe by Lee Siegel
Cover of the book The Day Before Midnight by Lee Siegel
Cover of the book The Spark by Lee Siegel
Cover of the book The Face by Lee Siegel
Cover of the book Los Alamos by Lee Siegel
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy