END OF ABSENCE

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Soon enough, nobody will remember life before the Internet. What does this unavoidable fact mean? For future generations, it won't mean anything very obvious. They will be so immersed in online life that questions about the Internet's basic purpose or meaning will vanish. But those of us who have lived both with and without the crowded connectivity of online life have a rare opportunity. We can still recognize the difference between Before and After. We catch ourselves idly reaching for our phones at the bus stop. Or we notice how, mid-conversation, a fumbling friend dives into the perfect recall of Google. In this eloquent and thought-provoking book, Michael Harris argues that amid all the changes we're experiencing, the most interesting is the one that future generations will find hardest to grasp. That is the end of absence--the loss of lack. The daydreaming silences in our lives are filled; the burning solitudes are extinguished. There's no true free time when you carry a smartphone. Today's rarest commodity is the chance to be alone with your own thoughts. To understand our predicament, and what we should do about it, Harris explores this loss of lack in chapters devoted to every corner of our lives, from sex and commerce to memory and attention span. The daily barrage of texts, tweets and e-mails brings us information, connection, entertainment. But it also takes something away, argues journalist Harris . . . His book invites readers, especially those old enough to remember life before the Web, to hold on to downtime, daydreams and stillness. --Scientific American Chances are, you'll recognize yourself in Harris' writing and note that you, too, enjoyed a life without so much static...It is an illuminating, worthy reckoning of our disjointed, digital life. --The Associated Press

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