Next book

ROAD WARRIORS

DREAMS AND NIGHTMARES ALONG THE INFORMATION HIGHWAY

A down-to-earth guide to the digital revolution (a.k.a. Information Highway) that's ushering in an era of momentous change. Burstein (Turning the Tables, 1993, etc.) and Kline (a contributing editor of Wired) caution that it could take 50 or more years to complete the postindustrial makeover of the Global Village's cultural, governance, institutional, and socioeconomic structures. There's still no telling the exact shape of things to come, they assert, largely because the high-tech frontier has almost no sheriffs. By way of example, the authors cite the Internet. Given the anarchic character of this widely dispersed, wholly unregulated web, Burstein and Kline speculate that its future is as a sort of people's bazaar rather than as a roadway for the financial traffic of corporate America. They go on to offer a rundown on other of the brave new world's unanswered questions. Cases in point range from the commercial fate of interactive television through the stability of the alliances being formed among cable TV operators and regional telephone companies; whether the CD-ROM is a passing fancy; and how to determine what the consuming public really wants from multimedia. Covered as well are Washington's frequently perverse reactions to the digital revolution and the risk that it could widen the gap between haves and have-nots. Burstein and Kline then make their own proposals for the productive domestic development of the Information Highway. Among other possibilities, they commend total deregulation of telecommunications (with reregulation, if need be, as benefits and drawbacks come into focus), establishment of a coherent technical policy by the federal government, incentives to keep more manufacturing in-country, and leaving censorship to adult consumers, not legislators. A thoughtful, instructive survey on what may lie ahead on a winding road that's still under construction.

Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1995

ISBN: 0-525-93726-9

Page Count: 400

Publisher: Dutton

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1995

Categories:
Next book

THE ELEMENTS OF STYLE

50TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION

Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...

Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.

Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").

Pub Date: May 15, 1972

ISBN: 0205632645

Page Count: 105

Publisher: Macmillan

Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972

Categories:
Next book

NUTCRACKER

This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996

ISBN: 0-15-100227-4

Page Count: 136

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

Categories:
Close Quickview