Shrinking the world
Subtitle: the 4000-year story of how email came to rule our lives
By: John Freeman
Publisher: Text Publishing
Published: 2009
Place of publication: Melbourne, Vic
Language: eng
Number of pages: 247
ISBN-13: 9781921520945
Subjects: Electronic mail systems; Social aspects; Electronic mail messages; Interpersonal communication; History
Other titles: Tyranny of e-mail.
Description: The first email was sent less than forty years ago; by 2011 there will be 3.2 billion users. The flood of messages is ceaseless. As the toll of email mounts, reducing our time for leisure and contemplation, and separating us from each other in the lonely battle with the inbox, Freeman enters a plea for communication that is more selective and nuanced and, above all, more sociable. Drawing on the research of linguists, scientists, critics and philosophers, Freeman's history of correspondence reveals how changing methods of communication have eroded the great distances between us.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.

Originally published: New York : Scribner, 2009, under title: Tyranny of e-mail : the four-thousand-year journey to your inbox. 9781416576730
Table of contents: title: Words in motion; title: The invention of now; title: All together now; title: This is your brain on e-mail; title: Dawn of the machines; title: Manifesto for a slow communication movement; title: Don't send.