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| Hamlet's BlackBerry: A Practical Philosophy for Building a Good Life in the Digital Age |  | Author: William Powers
Publisher: Harper
Category: Book
List Price: $24.99
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Rating:  43 reviews
Sales Rank: 284
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Pages: 288
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.8 x 1.3
ISBN: 0061687162
Dewey Decimal Number: 303.4833
EAN: 9780061687167
ASIN: 0061687162
Publication Date: July 1, 2010
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Product Description
A crisp, passionately argued answer to the question that everyone who's grown dependent on digital devices is asking: "Where's the rest of my life?" At a time when we're all trying to make sense of our relentlessly connected lives, this revelatory book presents a bold new approach to the digital age. Part intellectual journey, part memoir, Hamlet's BlackBerry sets out to solve what William Powers calls the conundrum of connectedness. Our computers and mobile devices do wonderful things for us. But they also impose an enormous burden, making it harder for us to focus, do our best work, build strong relationships, and find the depth and fulfillment we crave. Hamlet's BlackBerry argues that we need a new way of thinking, an everyday philosophy for life with screens. To find it, Powers reaches into the past, uncovering a rich trove of ideas that have helped people manage and enjoy their connected lives for thousands of years. New technologies have always brought the mix of excitement and stress that we feel today. Drawing on some of history's most brilliant thinkers, from Plato to Shakespeare to Thoreau, he shows that digital connectedness serves us best when it's balanced by its opposite, disconnectedness. Using his own life as laboratory and object lesson, Powers demonstrates why this is the moment to revisit our relationship to screens and mobile technologies, and how profound the rewards of doing so can be. Lively, original, and entertaining, Hamlet's BlackBerry will challenge you to rethink your digital life.
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 43
 A salve for the digital overachiever September 7, 2010
M. A. Moore (Oregon USA)
Hamlet's Blackberry is a must read, with particular pertinence for those of us old enough not to be considered digital natives. It's comforting to know that our crazed age is just the latest when humans felt burdened by, even hostile to the pace of change and the volume of information circulating. Ancient Greeks, Shakespearean Brits and mid-20th century Americans have been there, done that as well, as Powers' insightful book tells us. Revisiting some of the great thinkers of western civilization was one pleasure of Blackberry; another was Powers' mildly anarchistic advice for tuning out: switch off blaring TVs in public places when no one's looking, for one. I can't recommend this quick, intelligently written book more highly.
a balanced look at a complex issue + plenty of good advice September 6, 2010
Adam Thierer (think tank analyst in Washington, DC)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Powers is a gifted storyteller and his walk though the history of philosophy and technology makes this slender volume an enjoyable, quick read. He begins by reminding us that "whenever new devices have emerged, they've presented the kinds of challenges we face today -- busyness, information overload, that sense of life being out of control. These challenges were as real two millennia ago as they are today, and throughout history, people have been grappling with them and looking for creative ways to manage life in the crowd."
His key insight is that is that humans can adapt new technology, but it takes time, patience, humility, and a little effort. "The key is to strike a balance," he says, between "the call of the crowd" and the "need for time and space apart" from it. The problem we face today is that all the pressure is on us to be what he calls "Digital Maximalists." That is, many of us are increasingly out to maximize the time spent in front of various digital "screens" whether we have made the determination that is really in our best interest or not. It has just gradually happened, Powers argues, because "The goal is no longer to be `in touch' but to erase the possibility of ever being out of touch."
Echoing the concern displayed in Nick Carr's new book "The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains," as well as John Freeman's "The Tyranny of E-Mail: The Four-Thousand-Year Journey to Your Inbox," Powers fears that time for focus and introspection "is lost when your days are spread so thin, busyness itself is your true occupation. If every moment is a traffic jam, it's impossible to engage any experience with one's whole self. More and more, that's how we live," he argues.
Even though Powers clearly leans more toward the techno-pessimist camp in this regard, what I like best about his book is that he generally avoids a preachy tone and excessive hand-wringing. He isn't one of those techno-pessimists who adopts a holy-than-thou, the-rest-of-you-just-don't-get-it attitude. In fact, there's a great deal of self-deprecating humor in the book as Powers explains how he is struggling with the same issues the rest of us are and trying to figure out how to strike the right balance in his own life. Importantly, he notes that each of us will strike that balance differently. "[E]veryone has to work that out for himself. We're all different, and there's no one-size-fits-all way to balance the outward life and the inward one." That is a crucial insight. There's nothing worse than a techno-skeptic who tells us they have discovered the one true path to enlightenment or happiness -- especially when it entails giving up new technologies that can have so many beneficial upsides. Indeed, Powers argues that "It's never a good idea to buy into the dark fears of the techno-Cassandras, who generally turn out to be wrong. Human beings are skillful at figuring out the best uses of new tools. However, it can take awhile."
Indeed, the struggle with information clutter will continue. Assimilating new communications and entertainment technologies into our lives has always been challenging, but, thanks to excellent advice like that offer by William Powers in "Hamlet's BlackBerry," I am optimistic that we humans can do so sensibly and be happier -- and wiser -- for it in the long-run.
 Nice try, but still a work in progress September 5, 2010
Emc2 (Tropical Utopia)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book caught my attention because everywhere you see people that are really addicted to their smart phones, texting and surfing the web in general. In the book's introduction Mr. Powers offers an analysis of the addiction to digital screens using as a framework the teachings of the "Seven Philosophers of Screens" as he called them: Plato (Socrates), Seneca, Gutenberg, Shakespeare, Benjamin Franklin, Thoreau, and McLuhan.
In reality, not all of these brilliant personalities or thinkers were philosophers, Gutenberg being the prime example. Instead, in several cases the author is deriving lessons from new technologies (like the invention of the printing press by Gutenberg) and most often in his own extrapolations, like in the case of Shakespeare's erasable table. In summary, only the chapters about Plato, Seneca and McLuhan truly deal with philosophical teachings, and most of the substance is presented in Chapter 12, where he presents practical advice to avoid being hooked to screens all the time and enjoy so many other thing life has to offer.
Interesting subject, some interesting facts and historical anecdotes are presented, but still a work in progress and the writing style is crying out loud for improvement. Mr. Powers' style does not allow for a free-flow reading. In the first chapter several times he goes around the same concept to the point of despair, and often he branches out to other ideas missing the central point of discussion. Also throughout the book he abuses of personal anecdotes, from the call to his mother to drowning his celular phone in the boat (in the early chapters), up to his family voluntary disconnectopia (electronic Sabbath) to his jury call in the last two chapters. It's simply too much personal and even unintentionally, he transmits the impression that he is trying to show off. I really have to make an effort to finish the book.
"The only way to cultivate a happy inner life is to spend time there..." September 4, 2010
D. Kanigan (CT, USA)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
As many blackberry and gadget addicts, I was drawn to this book by the title.
Part I makes the case that we spend far too much time with gadgets/screens and far too little time in relationships, the environment, in reflection. Time spent wired and being "on" all the time offers little time to find purpose and meaning in our lives.
"...life has the potential to be lived deeply...that potential is lost when your days are spread so thin, busyness itself is your true occupation. If every moment is a traffic jam, it's impossible to engage any experience with one's self. More and more, that's how we live. We're like so many pinballs bouncing around a world of blinking links and buzzers. There's lots of movement and noise, but it doesn't add up to much."
"The limitlessness of digital life is thrilling, but it's also unsettling...first, the hours we spend flitting constantly between tasks train us to treat our time and our attention as infinitely divisible commodities. On a screen, it's easy to jam more busyness into each moment, so that is exactly what we do. Eventually the mind falls into a mode of thinking, a kind of nervous rhythm that's inherently about finding new stimuli, new jobs to perform. This carries over into the rest of our lives; even when we are away from our screens, it's hard for our minds to stop clicking around and come to rest."
In Part II, Powers shares his research on 7 great Philosophers who wrestled with the communication/technology advances (or distractions) of the day including Plato, Seneca, Hamlet, Ben Franklin and Thoreau - written scrolls, printing presses, the telegraph and other distractions. There was some solace in finding that even the great minds in history had struggled with fighting overload and balancing technological advancements and distractions with the need to be focused and the need to be and stay human.
In Part III of the book, Power offers up his solutions which net down to this: Technology controls us only if we let it. Create inner space. Take an "Internet Sabbath. Disconnect. Unplug.
"Turn off your computer. You're actually going to have to turn off our phone and discover all that is human around us. Nothing beats holding the hand of your grandchild as he walks his first steps"
I found this to be a good but not a great book. It is easy reading and very thoughtfully written. The intro, plot and conclusion were captured early on in the book and I found myself wading through to finish.
Disconnect the superficial and connect to the profound September 2, 2010
GymGoddess (Chicago, IL United States)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Are you reading this review with six screens open, your Smartphone alerting you and your e-mail pinging? At the same time are you wondering about the latest Facebook updates, when you should check your city's on-line calendar to plan your holiday weekend and listening to a conference call? Then you are like virtually every other hyperconnected person in the modern world. You are busy without creating, stressed without growing emotionally or professionally, preoccupied without being truly occupied.
In this beautifully written book, the author draws parallel between the impact of new communication technology in our age and the impact of other technologies in prior ages. Like the philosophers he describes who reconciled the intrusion of technology with the benefits of technology, the author does the same for our age. As heavy going as this may appear, the connections the author makes are nothing short of exciting.
This is a book to be read slowly, in silence and with full concentration. It is a book to be thought about in solitude and acted upon individually. If the reader derives nothing else from the book, that now unique experience is the whole message and value of this great book.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 43
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