Author:Evgeny Morozov
Our gadgets are getting smarter. Technology can log what we buy, customize what we consume and enable us to save and share every aspect of our existence. In the future, we're told, it will even make public life - from how we're governed to how we record crime - better. But can the digital age fix everything? Should it? By quantifying our behaviour, Evgeny Morozov argues, we are profoundly reshaping society - and risk losing the opacity and imperfection that make us human.
If you've ever had the niggling feeling, as you spoon down your google, that there's no such thing as a free lunch, Morozov's book will tell you how you might end up paying for it
—— Brian EnoA clear voice of reason and critical thinking in the middle of today's neomania
—— Nassim Taleb, author of 'The Black Swan'consistently enthralling memoirs by leading thinkers...the result is a remarkably dud-free collection
—— ObserverThis is a book that bursts into life from the first page… Rousing, fascinating… Utterly engaging
—— Camilla Cavendish , Sunday TimesThis book is a sobering, riveting read: part quest, part travelogue, part scientific debate and part much-needed environmental call-to-arms
—— Sarah Barrell , National Geographic TravellerI loved this book. This is natural history at its funniest, most curious, enlightening and heartfelt. I couldn’t put it down. It was like going on safari with Gerald Durrell, Rachel Carson and Redmond O’ Hanlon … I was alternately wide-eyed with wonder, appalled and then tickled to laughter. It’s beautifully written. And it’s powerful. An elegy to every living thing on this remarkable planet. Impossible to finish without being uplifted by the wonder of the natural world and driven to do something about its plight.
—— Nicholas Crane, writer and co-presenter of CoastA gloriously readable, boundlessly fascinating shaggy dog story about the author's quest for one of hte world's more recently extinct species...what makes this book so wonderful: using his eye for detail, turning the ordinary into the extraordinary, teaching you to care about the little things.
—— James Delingpole , Mail on Sundaydelightfully written and a splendid romp through one man’s mole-hunting search among the wilds of animal taxonomy
—— Daily ExpressAt the heart of this delightfully meandering book is a history of how we find and catalogue species, and a thought-provoking examination of our changing attitudes to wildlife
—— BBC FocusFascinating
—— New InternationalistElegiac and personal… Highly recommended
—— Henry Nicholls , BBC WildlifeA stirring tribute to the marvel of all living creatures
—— Sunday Times Summer ReadingEntertaining and provocative
—— Robin McKie , ObserverExciting, breathless
—— Kate Saunders , Saga Magazine[Girling] writes with verve and passion and he makes his case persuasively, with knowledge, enthusiasm and commitment… Brimful with facts and arguments
—— UK Press SyndicationA thought-provoking study
—— Julia Richardson , Daily MailA delight to read
—— 4 stars , Independent On Sunday