Wednesday, March 05, 2003

Kestrell's Current Read Next, by Michael Lewis You can find an excerpt here. Anyone who has ever watched a parent ask his kid for advice about what computer to buy from Best Buy or has wondered why it is that a three-year-old can program the VCR but an MIT graduate cannot make heads or tails of it should read this book. It offers some pretty strange truths, including transcripts of conversation where teenagers try to explain computer concepts to adults (I LOVE these bits, absolutely surreal in the utter arrogance and equal cluelessness of the adults). The book also provides some interesting insights about why kids adapt technology--and make technology adapt to them and their needs--faster than adults can even figure out the documentation, which is a fascinating subject in itself. Most of all, this book has a wicked sense of irony and fun, while still managing to serve as a heads-up to the Establishment that the times they are a-changin'. 1:50:34 PM    comment []