Susan Maushart

I mostly enjoyed this book. The only reason it fell short of four stars was that it is very focused on parents, and as I don't have children there were sections that left me pretty cold. I also suspect that some of these sections were a result of the rule of contemporary non-fiction publishing that every book must be at least 250 pages, whereas this one would have made an excellent 150-200.

I picked it up expecting it to be a hilarious farce, having read Susan Maushart's columns in The Australians over the years, but it turned out to almost be self help. It is structured around [a:Henry David Thoreau|10264|Henry David Thoreau|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/authors/1392432620p2/10264.jpg]'s [b:Walden|16902|Walden|Henry David Thoreau|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1465675526s/16902.jpg|2361393], which I loved when I read it, and may now reread. The theme regarding place and how we may numb our sense of displacement with technology really struck a chord with me. There were also some poignant moments as the relationships between her children changed, apparently due to The Experiment.

Maushart's writing is good, and occasionally laugh out loud funny, but it's also a little bit patchy.… (mehr)

Long title, interesting story. Within these pages we go to a place no one from our day and age seeks to tread. A place devoid of all site and sound...well, at least all sites and sounds that come from the gadgets and gizmos we've acquired. That's right. No more iPods. No more eBooks. No more netbooks, laptops, desktops or iPads. The goal? To see how "the Experiment" (as it came to be known) would impact their over all quality of life.

A dash of humor, a twist of digital decay, and the right amount of reflection (and self-realization) to spice things up, this is one read for both those self proclaimed connection junkies as well as those that wouldn't know a "LOL" from a "ROTFL". With many options to research the statistic and data strewn throughout the pages, further reading is merely a look in the "notes" section away. Long story short ...if you ever doubted, wondered, or even speculated the effects of the digital world on our lives, this ones for you.… (mehr)