Soft Edge: Natural History and Future of the Information Revolution: Nat Hist&Future Info - Softcover

Levinson, Paul

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0415197724 ISBN 13: 9780415197724

Publisher: Routledge, 1998

Synopsis

The Soft Edge is a book on the theories about the evolution of technology, the effects that human choice has on this (r)evolution, and what's in store for us in the future.

About this title

Review:

"This history provides a refreshing contrast to texts that are little more than litanies of dates and/or tomes of doomsayers. It provides excellent insights and is suggested reading for those with a keen interest in media."
-"Educator
""The Soft Edge is a wonderful book, both as a historical survey of how information technologies have evolved and as a critique of how some media critics have portrayed computers and the Internet."
-"Technology and Society
"Remarkable in both scholarly sweep and rhetorical lyricism. . . what first promises to be the digital "Origin of the Species turns out to be a sequel to "The Odyssey: media's progress is presented as an epic journey toward freedom, unseating censors along the way."
-"Wired
"Smart, spare, yet deep, and heartily recommended."
-"Library Journal
..."defies the critics of technology who insist that technology robs human life of its human character...well worth the attention of those interested in the history, nature, and future of technology."
-"Analog

Synopsis:

This text is a history of the information revolution. Paul Levinson historian and philosopher of media and communications, gives us more than just a history of information technologies. This is a book about theories on the evolution of technology, the effects that human choice has on this (r)evolution, and what's in store for us in the future. Paul Levinson's engaging voice guides us on a tour that explains how communications media have been responsible for major developments in history and for profound changes in our day-to-day lives. Levinson presents the argument that technology actually becomes more human. We see how information technologies are selected on the basis of how well they meet human needs. Why is email more like speech than print is? Why didn't the arrival of television destroy the radio? These and many more thought provoking questions are answered. Extending and deepening the pathways blazed by McLuhan, Paul Levinson provides study of life with our old media, our new media, and the media still to come.

About this edition

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0415197724
• ISBN 13: 9780415197724
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 276