When I read Cal Newport’s “Digital Minimalism” when it first came out at the beginning of 2019, I was pleased by its intelligence but baffled by its pessimism. In the book, Newport urges his readers to “detox” themselves from addictive social media and prune the electronic elements out of their lives.
For reasons that have always completely eluded me, the science fiction writer Philip K. Dick, author of such works as “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” and “The Man in the High Castle,” garnered a devoted fan following during his career and has maintained that following since his death in 1982.
With the sole exception of my role as manservant to my bossy little Miniature Schnauzer, my life is entirely about books. I read them, of course, a tidy little pile of them every week – both the many new and forthcoming titles I get from publishers and the unpredictable variety I find in charity shops and second-hand bookshops.
A grumpy friend of mine recently made what, for him, was a major concession in a long-standing war between us. We’ve been happily disagreeing with each other for almost a decade over the merits of e-books and e-reading.
Inevitably, there are one or two T-shirt-style mottos or slogans that tend to speak to me more than others. “Let the Wookiee Win” appeals to my not-so-inner curmudgeon.