The Age of Earthquakes: A Guide to the Extreme Present
Product ID: 66816038
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A highly provocative, mindbending, beautifully designed, and visionary look at the landscape of our rapidly evolving digital era. 50 years after Marshall McLuhan's ground breaking book on the influence of technology on culture in The Medium is the Massage , Basar, Coupland and Obrist extend the analysis to today, touring the world that’s redefined by the Internet, decoding and explaining what they call the 'extreme present'. THE AGE OF EARTHQUAKES is a quick-fire paperback, harnessing the images, language and perceptions of our unfurling digital lives. The authors offer five characteristics of the Extreme Present (see below); invent a glossary of new words to describe how we are truly feeling today; and ‘mindsource’ images and illustrations from over 30 contemporary artists. Wayne Daly’s striking graphic design imports the surreal, juxtaposed, mashed mannerisms of screen to page. It’s like a culturally prescient, all-knowing email to the reader: possibly the best email they will ever read. Welcome to THE AGE OF EARTHQUAKES, a paper portrait of Now, where the Internet hasn’t just changed the structure of our brains these past few years, it’s also changing the structure of the planet. This is a new history of the world that fits perfectly in your back pocket. 30+ artists contributions: With contributions from Farah Al Qasimi, Ed Atkins, Alessandro Bavo, Gabriele Basilico, Josh Bitelli, James Bridle, Cao Fei, Alex Mackin Dolan, Thomas Dozol, Constant Dullaart, Cecile B Evans, Rami Farook, Hans-Peter Feldmann, GCC, K-Hole, Liam Gillick, Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, Eloise Hawser, Camille Henrot, Hu Fang, K-Hole, Koo Jeong-A, Katja Novitskova, Lara Ogel, Trevor Paglen, Yuri Patterson, Jon Rafman, Bunny Rogers, Bogosi Sekhukhuni, Taryn Simon, Hito Steyerl, Michael Stipe, Rosemarie Trockel, Amalia Ulman, David Weir, Trevor Yeung. Review: Close look at a not-so-distant future - Eye-opening look at the non-singularity prospects for the internet and people in the future. Clear trends are eased out to their natural extremes and combined to describe unconsidered (by the public at large) consequences. It will join my copy of The Third Millenium: A History fo the World 2000-3000 AD http://smile.desertcart.com/third-millennium-history-world-2000-3000/dp/0283992115/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1431098955&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Third+Millennium%3A+A+History+of+the+World+AD+2000-3000 Review: astute & awake - As an artist, anything that breaks the confinement of an old idea is a must. The words are often more pictorial in this book. It feels like a nice updated treatment of the “medium is the massage” with a shrewd look at our disintegrated past & the ever-evolving future. It tells the story of our human experience in the present and future by poking a bit of fun at our new digitally enslaved selves, without being too righteous, which was a welcome relief. An easy half hour read, but a definite must for lovers of the book. I loved that despite these three incredibly fertile & intelligentsia-ranked authors, you wanted to just sit & have a beer with them- and talk about anything other than the internet.
| Best Sellers Rank | #1,439,444 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #2,545 in Internet & Telecommunications #4,022 in Internet & Social Media #4,875 in Popular Culture in Social Sciences |
| Customer Reviews | 4.3 out of 5 stars 139 Reviews |
S**N
Close look at a not-so-distant future
Eye-opening look at the non-singularity prospects for the internet and people in the future. Clear trends are eased out to their natural extremes and combined to describe unconsidered (by the public at large) consequences. It will join my copy of The Third Millenium: A History fo the World 2000-3000 AD http://smile.amazon.com/third-millennium-history-world-2000-3000/dp/0283992115/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1431098955&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Third+Millennium%3A+A+History+of+the+World+AD+2000-3000
K**Y
astute & awake
As an artist, anything that breaks the confinement of an old idea is a must. The words are often more pictorial in this book. It feels like a nice updated treatment of the “medium is the massage” with a shrewd look at our disintegrated past & the ever-evolving future. It tells the story of our human experience in the present and future by poking a bit of fun at our new digitally enslaved selves, without being too righteous, which was a welcome relief. An easy half hour read, but a definite must for lovers of the book. I loved that despite these three incredibly fertile & intelligentsia-ranked authors, you wanted to just sit & have a beer with them- and talk about anything other than the internet.
K**T
worth the money.
great book. talented artists. makes you think about digital surroundings.
B**B
Cell phones and Polar Ice caps
How accurate that we use substances expecting the substances to tell us who we are. Yet substances only alleviate the symptoms of an inability to know who we are. Mental health issues dramatically rise amongst the the young as their living memory is void of experience with the increase of screen time when no memory can be created. Perhaps that is what addiction is: when one gives up searching for who they are. Perhaps the inability to know who we are is reflective of the technological age. Every time I see a cell phone I think about the polar ice caps melting. Then Nepal happened....
G**Y
Five Stars
pretty ironic to read on a kindle, great leisure reading though
J**R
Somebody's book, but definitely not mine.
I really shouldn't try to critique this item. At nearly 80, I'm at least 50 years beyond its target audience. I had hoped it might help bridge the gap; it didn't. I use a computer -- I'm using one now -- but I'm not really a member of the computer generation the way some of my grandkids are. So I saw parts as shallow, parts as pompous, and much as just unintelligible. And overall, depressing. Whatever either my wife or I reads the other usually does; I haven't even suggested that she attempt this. My two stars are really a gift, based on the inherent unfairness of any assessment I make.
N**L
A thought-provoking, introspective look at our current time.
I show this to all my friends.
R**K
Four Stars
Funny, but interesting in it's approach.
J**3
Five Stars
An excellent piece of contemporary literature.
J**D
Original and Thought Provoking - A Must Read!
I saw one of the authors interviewed on 'C4 News' and my interest was piqued enough to buy myself a copy - I'm extremely glad that I did. I have loved (almost) every page. The others scared me. I am in my forties, have worked with web design tech geeks in the very early nineties, when 'The Internet' was a fairy-tale that nerds talked to each other about in hushed tones and Netscape were the Google of the day - I've worked for IT companies and I've run three web-based businesses, one of which actually worked and made money and I have a huge professional and personal interest in sociology, philosophy, interpersonal psychology etc - so I am already perhaps a pretty soft target for this book - but I think anyone alive today, using the internet (which is everyone except my Dad, I think?) with any kind of philosophical interest, fans of PK Dick novels, love of technology etc will get a lot out of this. It's all about today and tomorrow, and even more so about the day after that - which will be a Thursday (they all will) .Bursting with insight and the occasional warning (?). It's both a great book and not even a book - it's like the internet wrote a comedic parody of a book about the internet - but with the prime directive being a cliche about pictures speaking a thousand words..... I recommend it wholeheartedly (and so does UniTodd)
A**A
Tapa con rasguños
El contenido no tengo duda que será brutal, pero acabo de recibir el libro en este estado dentro del paquete (repartidor no tiene la culpa).
A**R
Bueno
Bueno
A**A
Geniale
Un saggio, un racconto, un libro d'arte...non è facile definirlo, però è una lezione su tutto. Sul presente, su come si fa arte oggi, su come vedere il mondo. Design pazzesco, prezzo incredibile.
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