Book Review: The End of Absence
Books and recommendations from Scientific American
By Clara Moskowitz
On supporting science journalism
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The End of Absence: Reclaiming What We've Lost in a World of Constant Connection
by Michael Harris
Current, 2014
The daily barrage of texts, tweets and e-mails brings us information, connection, entertainment. But it also takes something away, argues journalist Harris. “The loss of lack, the end of absence”—a deficit of silence and solitude—is the price we pay for our plugged-in lives, he writes. His book invites readers, especially those old enough to remember life before the Web, to hold on to downtime, daydreams and stillness. “For those of us who have lived both with and without the vast, crowded connectivity the Internet provides,” Harris says, “these are the few days when we can still notice the difference between Before and After.”
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