Rating: 
Summary: Enjoyable book about the acceleration of life
Review: I've read this book several times over the last year or two. I enjoy it every time. There are many interesting anecdotes about how life has accelerated almost beyond control. Curiously enough, the book itself goes at a slow pace. There is a refreshing difference between the relaxed pace of the book and the frantic pace of the subject matter. Reading it straight through might not be the best way to approach this book. I enjoy reading one chapter at a time at night as a way to relax from my own fast-paced life.
Rating: 
Summary: Interminable
Review: Clearly, I had false expectations. I had heard much of this book and expected something more insightful than the actuality.Gleick's book is anything but fast. It is slow, ponderous and desperately in search of meaning. It is one long series of trite anecdotes. As an airport book merely serving to while away some hours on a long distance flight, "Faster" may be useful. However, even this is probably stretching the reality. Overall, the book is anything but fast and I would encourage readers to search elsewhere for a more meaningful view of modern life.
Rating:
Summary: Not Fast Enough
Review: Gleick's slim little book about the quickening pace of...well, everything...turned out to be surprisingly tedious. The book's main drawback is that it's nothing more than a collection of loosely related anecdotes: how airline scheduleing software optimizes plane routes, how call switching programs handle zillions of calls, how movies are compressed into MTV-like bursts, how modern audiences can't sit still for a full symphony, etc. (If lists like this actually interest you, you might like "Faster".) While there are plenty of discreet observations of quick "stuff", there's almost no analysis to speak of, no discussion of the implications of this increasing quickness or speculation on where it might ultimitely lead. The writing style is largely glib and ironic, offering the reader little substance to chew on. A prime example of the irony of this book is the fact that many of the chapters are only three pages long.
Rating: 
Summary: Frst 'mprssns
Review: Read the first chapter today over breakfast ;-) Loved it, esp. the way it ends: Sophocles said Time was a gentle deity, but, nowadays, it cracks the whip. Was quite intrigued by the cover of the hardcover edition. You can guess the words; but, without the vowels, they look as if they have lost their soul. Plan to read the rest of the book when in a traffic jam, which someone has described as the preserve of the motorist (pun intended).
Rating:
Summary: Perceptive & Poignant.
Review: James Gleick's Faster is well written, and even though the things he says may not be what some want to hear, his claims are all backed up with facts. This book was written in 1999, and so far things are unfolding just as he claims they will, ever faster. Sometimes he dawdles over certain points for too long and seems like an old crank, but the emphasis is necessary. He makes a several references to how people will continually push the elevator door close button to shave seconds off their wait.
No longer are there elevator operators, they took too up too much time by being polite. If you feel like you never have enough hours in the day, even though modern conveniences should be giving us more free time, then this is a book you should read. The pace of the writing emphasizes the theme of this book as he jumps from topic to topic trying to cover as much as possible without losing your attention. As a society we are a Type-A personality, always trying to get things faster, whatever that may cost us in the long run.
Rating: 
Summary: Reading this book is like drinking caffeine
Review: It's a great intriguing book - lots of interesting facts and commentary on our lifestyle. However, it just seems to continue to go on and on with little facts and examples, thinking that at some point he'll stop and slow down but he never does. I gave up about half way. I may continue it some other time. This is definitely not a book to read before bed. Each time I read some of it before bed it made me anxious and never and kept my mind racing. That's not a bad thing most of the time though.
Rating:
Summary: Future Shock II
Review: This book reinforces Alvin Toffler's classic. It's a timely warning about where we're heading. Well worth reading!
Rating:
Summary: Not what I expected/
Review: I was a bit disappointed in this book. I had thought it would trace the history of the events over the past 100 years or so when technical development began to accelerate. Well told and interesting details of today's faster pace overcame my disappointment a bit..
Rating:
Summary: Interesting Anecdotes
Review: However, I can't help but to feel that Gleick is in a state of extreme sarcasm or anger when he's writing this book. Taking potshots at the technology around him and making fun of advances that has made our lives a little bit better. Gleick has a knack of turning everyday occurances into scientific observations. He's like Dilbert doing science rather than office politics. Although I enjoyed Genius and Chaos, I can't say that his current writing hold its own. It's just too banal if you're working as an engineer or a scientist yourself. Since there's no such thing as 2.5 stars, i'll have to give him 2 stars
Rating:
Summary: Stop the world, I want to get off
Review: Not be clichéed about it, but the book is a fast read - and disturbing. Are we really that accultured to going fast, faster, fastest with no thought of anything else? Oof, it gives one motion sickness just thinking about that! One thing which Gleick doesn't seem to cover well is the correlation between saved time or spent time and money. Yes, he mentions it, but there seem to be some gaps. E. g. he talks about what a waste of time it is to pre-rinse dishes before putting them in the dishwasher. However, what if the reason why one owns a less-than-stellar model is due to a need to save money? Shouldn't there be a correlation between those pre-rinsing moments at the sink and the cost differential between the basic model and the deluxe model? There also doesn't seem to be a lot on the Internet as a timesaver (or waster). I liked the book, but it's due for an updating.
| 
