High-Tech Heretic: Reflections of a Computer Contrarian
Clifford Stoll, the Frank Zappa of cyberculture, dances around and about  information architecture inHigh-Tech Heretic: Reflections of a Computer  Contrarian. His friendly, just-folks style is accessible and entertaining,  even for the painfully postmodern readers who most desperately need Stoll's  quiet skepticism. The 23 short essays are split between education and more  general computer-related topics, but each reflects a unique and consistent  viewpoint that is marginalized, at best: computers might be neat, but they  aren't revolutionary. He walks a narrow path, and eschews both the utopians'  rosy, mirrored shades and the Luddites' monkey wrenches in favor of the least  sexy accessory of all--critical thought. Why are we supposed to wire every  classroom? Whose best interests are served by programs that offer "computer  literacy?" Can we really meet people online? Stoll asks the reader to check  assumptions and suspend judgments, while we determine what's really best for our  children and our culture. His ideas aren't the stuff of which sound bites are  made, although his writing has enough pith and charm to keep even the most rabid  techno-partisan engaged. It must be a blast to infuriate the smug and unthinking  punditocracy for a living;High-Tech Hereticlets us join the fun,  stretch our eye-rolling muscles, and exercise our old-fashioned seawater brains.--Rob Lightner