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Archive for the '- Nonfiction Book Reviews' Category

The Psychology of the Internet

Wednesday, October 5, 2005

BOOK REVIEW, NONFICTION:
by Noche Kandora

Crowd Control, Catharsis, Gender & More in the Online Hornet’s Nest – The noticeable lack of lofty punditry about life online is probably the biggest part of what makes The Psychology of the Internet so refreshingly likeable.

Part of Patricia Wallace’s stated goal in writing the largely objective book is this: if we as digital citizens can enhance our understanding of the online environment and get a good take on how it operates as a place for human interaction, we can shape its future and make for a better cyber existence. Or, as Wallace somewhat ambiguously puts it, “improve the psychological climate on the Internet.” That’s really as idealistic as she gets, which is a good thing. (more…)

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War of the Worlds

Thursday, August 25, 2005

BOOK REVIEW, NONFICTION:
by Noche Kandora

Demon in the machine – The Internet and cyber activities of all sorts would likely be in big trouble if the “humanist” Mark Slouka ever won state or federal office. Slouka, sounding an Orwellian tone in his 1995 book War of the Worlds, makes virtual reality out to be solely a money-making proposition. The upshot, he says, is that the Internet and synthetic environments pose a detrimental threat to individuality. (more…)

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Life on the Screen

Wednesday, August 17, 2005

BOOK REVIEW, NONFICTION:
by Noche Kandora

Spreading yourself around – If you’re intrigued by the phenomenon of man having more than one side to his personality — aspects of himself that he keeps buried away but would gladly unleash under the right circumstances — Sherry Turkle’s Life on the Screen will likely prove to be an interesting read. Turkle discusses this type of subject matter within the context of the culture of simulation, chiefly by investigating the sociological and psychological dynamics of the online environments that have come to function as de facto laboratories and playgrounds for social and personal experimentation. (more…)

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The Fourth Discontinuity

Wednesday, August 17, 2005

BOOK REVIEW, NONFICTION:
by Noche Kandora

Linking man and machine – When Copernicus broke the news about his hallmark discovery, man reluctantly had to come to terms with the fact that Earth’s bestowed spot at the center of the universe was basically hogwash. Darwin made similar waves when he pegged man as animal. Then along came Freud, a Darwinian disciple who sought to dissolve the perceived dichotomy between the conscious mind and the darkened realms of the unconscious. (more…)

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