Tuesday, September 23, 2014

New Release:

A Deadly Wandering: A Tale of Tragedy and Redemption in the Age of Attention
Matt Richtel
William Morrow
Hardcover

  I read and finished this deeply compelling book in the space of a few days.  I love when authors give us the "story within a story" in their nonfiction.  Pulitzer Prize winner Matt Richtel does this in spades in A Deadly Wandering.

 Two men died at the hands of a texting teenage driver.  Richtel uses his narrative gift to show how technology can hinder the human mind.  At the time of the accident, 2006, there were essentially no laws on the books limiting texting while driving.  This book actually shows the intersection between emerging technology and neuroscience.

From the publisher's website:

From Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Matt Richtel, a brilliant, narrative-driven exploration of technology’s vast influence on the human mind and society, dramatically-told through the lens of a tragic “texting-while-driving” car crash that claimed the lives of two rocket scientists in 2006.

In this ambitious, compelling, and beautifully written book, Matt Richtel, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for the New York Times, examines the impact of technology on our lives through the story of Utah college student Reggie Shaw, who killed two scientists while texting and driving. Richtel follows Reggie through the tragedy, the police investigation, his prosecution, and ultimately, his redemption.

In the wake of his experience, Reggie has become a leading advocate against “distracted driving.” Richtel interweaves Reggie’s story with cutting-edge scientific findings regarding human attention and the impact of technology on our brains, proposing solid, practical, and actionable solutions to help manage this crisis individually and as a society.


A propulsive read filled with fascinating, accessible detail, riveting narrative tension, and emotional depth, A Deadly Wandering explores one of the biggest questions of our time—what is all of our technology doing to us?—and provides unsettling and important answers and information we all need.



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