In emergency, break glass : what Nietzsche can teach us about joyful living in a tech-saturated world

Title:

Author:

Anderson, Nate, author.

Personal Author:

Anderson, Nate, author.

ISBN:

9781324004790

Edition:

First edition.

Physical Description:

193 pages ; 22 cm

Contents:

One. Burn the boats -- Two. The secret of my happiness -- Three. The information diet -- Four. Wisdom won by walking -- Five. The gay science?

Abstract:

"A lively and approachable meditation on how we can transform our digital lives if we let a little Nietzsche in. Who has not found themselves scrolling endlessly on screens and wondered: am I living or distracting myself from living? In Emergency, Break Glass adapts Friedrich Nietzsche's passionate quest for meaning into a world overwhelmed by "content." Written long before the advent of smartphones, Nietzsche's aphoristic philosophy advocated a fierce mastery of attention, a strict information diet, and a powerful connection to the natural world. Drawing on Nietzsche's work, technology journalist Nate Anderson advocates for a life of goal-oriented, creative exertion as more meaningful than the "frictionless" leisure often promised by our devices. He rejects the simplicity of contemporary prescriptions like reducing screen time in favor of looking deeply at what truly matters to us, then finding ways to make our technological tools serve this vision. With a light touch suffused by humor, Anderson uncovers the impact of this "yes-saying" philosophy on his own life-and perhaps on yours"-- Provided by publisher.

Who has not found themselves scrolling endlessly on screens and wondered: am I living or distracting myself from living? Anderson adapts Friedrich Nietzsche's passionate quest for meaning into a world overwhelmed by "content." Written long before the advent of smartphones, Nietzsche's aphoristic philosophy advocated a fierce mastery of attention, a strict information diet, and a powerful connection to the natural world. Drawing on Nietzsche's work, Anderson advocates for a life of goal-oriented, creative exertion as more meaningful than the "frictionless" leisure often promised by our devices. -- adapted from publisher info provided

Personal Subject:

Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm, 1844-1900.

Subject Term:

Genre:

Self-help publications.

Informational works.

Summary:

Holds:

Available:*

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Summary

Who has not found themselves scrolling endlessly on screens and wondered: Am I living or distracting myself from living? In Emergency, Break Glass adapts Friedrich Nietzsche's passionate quest for meaning into a world overwhelmed by "content."

Written long before the advent of smartphones, Nietzsche's aphoristic philosophy advocated a fierce mastery of attention, a strict information diet, and a powerful connection to the natural world. Drawing on Nietzsche's work, technology journalist Nate Anderson advocates for a life of goal-oriented, creative exertion as more meaningful than the "frictionless" leisure often promised by our devices. He rejects the simplicity of contemporary prescriptions like reducing screen time in favor of looking deeply at what truly matters to us, then finding ways to make our technological tools serve this vision. With a light touch suffused by humor, Anderson uncovers the impact of this "yes-saying" philosophy on his own life--and perhaps on yours.

Reviews (1)

Kirkus Review

A concise primer on how to live a meaningful life in our digital world. It is one of Nietzsche's unique attributes that books about him often carry the life force that animates his own works. This book is no exception. As the narrative opens, Anderson, deputy editor of Ars Technica and author of The Internet Police, writes about how he was stuck in an all-too-familiar digital rut. "Perhaps you have felt the same discomfort," he writes, "looking up from yet another spam email to wonder: What has become of the wonder and danger of life?" Looking for such wonder and danger, Anderson turned to Nietzsche, who offers a rousing and viable alternative to our screen-obsessed lives. So many writers get Nietzsche wrong, but Anderson reads him accurately and thoroughly, and he helpfully points out elements of his life and work that have been misunderstood or reached the level of myth. However, instead of full-on Nietzscheanism, Anderson recommends "thinking with him," which necessarily entails facing up to the philosopher's many shortcomings, especially his misogyny, as well as celebrating his many virtues. "Take Nietzsche as your guru and you will run into all sorts of problems," writes the author. "As one of my philosophy professors told me, 'If you're not offended by Nietzsche, you're not paying attention.'…Nietzsche was a flawed human being and a creature of his time." Thinking with also means going beyond. "If Nietzsche could see what many of us can't, perhaps we can see something Nietzsche couldn't"--that many of his goals "are often accomplished in community….[He] correctly diagnosed the need for joy in an industrializing world, where life and work felt commoditized and flattened." Anderson's vision is less heroic and iconoclastic than Nietzsche's, but it's more human and moderate and, therefore, more practical. Anderson gives us the philosopher we need for the moment at hand, and it is a welcome gift. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.