Anna Jane Grossman

An encyclopedia-style list of various technologies and customs that are either already gone or appear to be on their way out, ranging from the obvious (dial-up modems, asbestos) to the more surprising or debatable (nuns, phone sex) to the snarkily flippant (full words, aging). Many of the entries are really just one-sentence jokes, others feature longer discussions that might include a brief history of the technology in question, or some comments from people who were experts in whatever-it-is when it was still relevant. While those sections are sometimes actually informative, the book as a whole has a decidedly humorous, tongue-in-cheek sensibility. I did find it mildly amusing. But, although she states in the introduction that she's not going to, the author does sometimes give off a bit of a "Geez, kids today!" vibe, which is an attitude I find rather annoying and try hard to quash in myself. Also, inevitably, it all just makes me feel old. At 43, some of my own habits are already a little old-fashioned, and looking forward to the inevitable day when everything about me will seem ancient to the young and everything about the young will seem befuddling to me is almost too depressing to laugh at.… (mehr)

Obsolete presents ~130 products, practices, and concepts that have become obsolete or are rapidly heading that way.

First conceived as an article in the Washington Post Magazine, the book is organized encyclopedia-style with almost two-thirds of the entries mere sentences or short paragraphs that vary in interest/entertainment from little to none. But the book’s strength is in the other third -- entries that are explored over several pages with humor and reasonable depth (considering this is a light book). My favorites include cursive handwriting (which seems like an aspect of personality!); doing nothing at work (which reminds me of doing nothing generally, and the research that correlates the demise of boredom with the demise of creativity); landline telephones (including operators, party lines, rotary dials, phone books and phone booths; the shift in power from the caller to the callee); and privacy (fame is now a universal ambition).

The content is decidedly boomer-oriented and apt for reminiscing; readers unfamiliar with the concepts will not grasp much about them here. But there are also wake-up calls, for example that texting is making email and audio phones obsolete outside the workplace. And there are cautionary notes about collective knowledge and history: “Most of us probably imagine knowledge to be cumulative: Each advance is built on prior discoveries, block piled upon block in an ever-growing edifice. We don’t think of the blocks underneath as crumbling away or, worse yet, simply vanishing.”

Recommended to skim.… (mehr)