Picnic Comma Lightning: The Experience of Reality in the Twenty-First Century

Nonfiction, Health & Well Being, Psychology, Cognitive Psychology, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Cultural Studies, Popular Culture, Religion & Spirituality, Philosophy
Cover of the book Picnic Comma Lightning: The Experience of Reality in the Twenty-First Century by Laurence Scott, W. W. Norton & Company
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Laurence Scott ISBN: 9780393609981
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company Publication: May 28, 2019
Imprint: W. W. Norton & Company Language: English
Author: Laurence Scott
ISBN: 9780393609981
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Publication: May 28, 2019
Imprint: W. W. Norton & Company
Language: English

"A stylish, playful exploration of what digital life is doing to the way we find meaning in the world." —Guardian

In Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita, Humbert Humbert offers a memorably brief account of his parents’ death: “picnic, lightning.” Picnic Comma Lightning, too, opens with death—that of Laurence Scott’s mother—because, for a philosopher, death raises a profound existential question: How do we know what is real, especially when we have come to question the reality of so many of our day-to-day experiences? Writing from the intersection of philosophy, politics, and memoir, Scott transforms his personal meditation on loss into a beguiling exploration of what it means to exist in the world today.

It used to be that our lives were rooted in reasonably solid things: to people, places and memories. Now, in an age of online personas, alternative truths, constant surveillance and an increasingly hysterical news cycle, our realities are becoming flimsier and more vulnerable than ever before. Scott’s far-ranging examination charts the ways our traditional mental models of the world have started to fray. He ponders how ubiquitous cameras reframe our private lives (an event only exists once someone posts the video), how mysterious algorithms undermine our attempts at self-definition through their own data-driven portraits, and what happens in those moments when our illusions about reality are ruptured by incontrovertible facts (like the death of a parent or a bolt of lightning). “A report from the front line of the online generation” (Sunday Times), Picnic Comma Lightning is an essential account of how we’ve started to make sense of our strange new world.

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

"A stylish, playful exploration of what digital life is doing to the way we find meaning in the world." —Guardian

In Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita, Humbert Humbert offers a memorably brief account of his parents’ death: “picnic, lightning.” Picnic Comma Lightning, too, opens with death—that of Laurence Scott’s mother—because, for a philosopher, death raises a profound existential question: How do we know what is real, especially when we have come to question the reality of so many of our day-to-day experiences? Writing from the intersection of philosophy, politics, and memoir, Scott transforms his personal meditation on loss into a beguiling exploration of what it means to exist in the world today.

It used to be that our lives were rooted in reasonably solid things: to people, places and memories. Now, in an age of online personas, alternative truths, constant surveillance and an increasingly hysterical news cycle, our realities are becoming flimsier and more vulnerable than ever before. Scott’s far-ranging examination charts the ways our traditional mental models of the world have started to fray. He ponders how ubiquitous cameras reframe our private lives (an event only exists once someone posts the video), how mysterious algorithms undermine our attempts at self-definition through their own data-driven portraits, and what happens in those moments when our illusions about reality are ruptured by incontrovertible facts (like the death of a parent or a bolt of lightning). “A report from the front line of the online generation” (Sunday Times), Picnic Comma Lightning is an essential account of how we’ve started to make sense of our strange new world.

More books from W. W. Norton & Company

Cover of the book Unstill Life: A Daughter's Memoir of Art and Love in the Age of Abstraction by Laurence Scott
Cover of the book Can Love Last?: The Fate of Romance over Time by Laurence Scott
Cover of the book Jacob's Ladder: The History of the Human Genome by Laurence Scott
Cover of the book Kitty Genovese: The Murder, the Bystanders, the Crime that Changed America by Laurence Scott
Cover of the book The Marriage Clinic Casebook by Laurence Scott
Cover of the book Servants: A Downstairs History of Britain from the Nineteenth Century to Modern Times by Laurence Scott
Cover of the book Love Warps the Mind a Little: A Novel by Laurence Scott
Cover of the book The Outer Lands: A Natural History Guide to Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, Block Island, and Long Island by Laurence Scott
Cover of the book The March on Washington: Jobs, Freedom, and the Forgotten History of Civil Rights by Laurence Scott
Cover of the book The Measure of Manhattan: The Tumultuous Career and Surprising Legacy of John Randel, Jr., Cartographer, Surveyor, Inventor by Laurence Scott
Cover of the book Caesar: The Life Story of a Panda-Leopard by Laurence Scott
Cover of the book Brain Change Therapy: Clinical Interventions for Self-Transformation by Laurence Scott
Cover of the book The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home (Fourth Edition) by Laurence Scott
Cover of the book The Self-Compassion Skills Workbook: A 14-Day Plan to Transform Your Relationship with Yourself by Laurence Scott
Cover of the book The Republic of Poetry: Poems by Laurence Scott
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