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Rating: 
Summary: Reinvent YOUR OWN wheel!
Review: Absurdly Romantic. The titled theme of this book is mostly a rehash of the insideous dark menace of "technology". What little originality the author pretends to contribute to this subject rests on slight differences in his peculiarly narrow definitions of certain words, e.g.; "behavior" versus "conduct".The prose is terrible. The only reason the editor could excuse such ScholarSpeak would be so that the reader will be so busy hacking at the written words that he will be too tired to consider the absurdity of what he has read. (My limit of Hershock was 20 pages per day). Hershock is a radical romantic. Apparently he is a hack for some "preservation of cultural diversity" organization. He occasionally pretends to present the opposite side of his arguments, but only superficially so. Along with the author, I do wish that people everywhere would consider more carefully the way that technology presents us with rapid ethical choices. However, we part company over the author's naked desire to make laws to enforce his version of "the good life", e.g.: laws against trucks being manufactured so that they cannot go over 20 mph. I made my life better by throwing this book into the trash can, at 100 mph.
Rating:
Summary: Reinvent YOUR OWN wheel!
Review: Absurdly Romantic. The titled theme of this book is mostly a rehash of the insideous dark menace of "technology". What little originality the author pretends to contribute to this subject rests on slight differences in his peculiarly narrow definitions of certain words, e.g.; "behavior" versus "conduct". The prose is terrible. The only reason the editor could excuse such ScholarSpeak would be so that the reader will be so busy hacking at the written words that he will be too tired to consider the absurdity of what he has read. (My limit of Hershock was 20 pages per day). Hershock is a radical romantic. Apparently he is a hack for some "preservation of cultural diversity" organization. He occasionally pretends to present the opposite side of his arguments, but only superficially so. Along with the author, I do wish that people everywhere would consider more carefully the way that technology presents us with rapid ethical choices. However, we part company over the author's naked desire to make laws to enforce his version of "the good life", e.g.: laws against trucks being manufactured so that they cannot go over 20 mph. I made my life better by throwing this book into the trash can, at 100 mph.
Rating: 
Summary: Impact of technology interwoven with our consciousness
Review: Telephones, TVs, jet planes, automobiles, computers, drugs, plastics... technology has become ever more deeply embedded in our lives. Technology is not just a bunch of tools piling up around us, but a pattern of activity that includes us too. Buddhism teaches us that we are actually cross-sections of such patterns of world activity. As technology radically restructures those patterns, it profoundly restructures the deep layers of our being. Many discussions of technology start from the same control-oriented dualistic perspective that gave rise to technology, and are therefore limited to superficiality. Hershock clearly points out how we are caught in a vicious circle, where our efforts to control our experience cut out the very meaningfulness we are searching for. A milestone contribution, demonstrating the vital relevance of Buddhist thought and practice to crucial issues of today.
Rating: 
Summary: i liked it
Review: This book is not an incredibly new critique of western culture, but does have a new take on the root of our problems and a solution: He presents the major problem of modern society as that of a need for control represented by and as technology. His explanation of colonialism is a bit nostalgic but he does make a lot of valid points. I highly recommend this book to anyone, but it does take a little effort to sift through. It helps to read a few times to get his arguments clear in your head, but a lot of it is just examples of control in society and the problems that creates, which is ultimately a neverending cycle (buddhists will recognize this as samsara). I especially recommend chapters 5, 7, and the last one
Rating:
Summary: i liked it
Review: This book is not an incredibly new critique of western culture, but does have a new take on the root of our problems and a solution: He presents the major problem of modern society as that of a need for control represented by and as technology. His explanation of colonialism is a bit nostalgic but he does make a lot of valid points. I highly recommend this book to anyone, but it does take a little effort to sift through. It helps to read a few times to get his arguments clear in your head, but a lot of it is just examples of control in society and the problems that creates, which is ultimately a neverending cycle (buddhists will recognize this as samsara). I especially recommend chapters 5, 7, and the last one
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