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chucklebuck's review against another edition
Picked this up for a uni dissertation, not academic enough to be used.
radella_hardwick's review against another edition
informative
lighthearted
fast-paced
4.25
This is a fascinating but mind-boggling read.
It fascinates me to learn how other people from this odd decade (1985-95) experienced the internet. But it boggles my mind as it is very far from my experience.
I am only 5 months younger than Marie and I grew up in a home that had a separate phone-line for the internet before I was 7-year-old but I was never as 'online' as she was.
I'm left yearning to chat to Marie about so many of the topics raised by this book. This sensation might not have been so strong if I hadn't first encountered her on a political podcast and will be seeing her live in 5 days' time. Or if I didn't have most of my friends through online spaces.
It fascinates me to learn how other people from this odd decade (1985-95) experienced the internet. But it boggles my mind as it is very far from my experience.
I am only 5 months younger than Marie and I grew up in a home that had a separate phone-line for the internet before I was 7-year-old but I was never as 'online' as she was.
I'm left yearning to chat to Marie about so many of the topics raised by this book. This sensation might not have been so strong if I hadn't first encountered her on a political podcast and will be seeing her live in 5 days' time. Or if I didn't have most of my friends through online spaces.
saviross's review against another edition
funny
informative
medium-paced
3.0
I really enjoyed the first half of the book, growing up with the internet during a similar time. It was nice to hear about other's similar experiences, as well as different experiences. The second half of the book focused more on Marie's life and personal opinions. There were also parts later in the book when Marie fell deeply into nostalgia and didn't really talk about how young people use the internet today (the many different ways!), which I found a little disappointing as I expected this book to be a little more educational rather than memoir-esque. Still, an interesting read.
birdk1ng's review against another edition
2.0
I found this book incredibly frustrating. A subtitle like “How a generation shaped, destroyed and survived the internet”
led me to believe that this would have been some kind of analysis or social theory. Instead what you get is a collection of, often repetitive, memoir-style essays about what it was like for the author to grow up on the internet ‘back when it was good’. I felt let down because I really did relate to a lot of her anecdotes and found her voice at times to be genuinely charming but it just… really lacked substance. There were points in the book where Le Conte tiptoes around actual theory before refusing to actually reference say Deleuze and Guattari or any studies on the rise of internet fascism, mental health statistics or surveillance… usually she justifies this with something along the lines of ‘I’d rather not bore you, the reader, or myself, the author’. The citations in this book then end up being the occasional news article and email correspondence with her friends who also had blogs ‘back when the internet was good’. I wish this book had either had the integrity to actually study internet culture or admit that it was a memoir and lean into the narrative of the author’s actual lived experience.
led me to believe that this would have been some kind of analysis or social theory. Instead what you get is a collection of, often repetitive, memoir-style essays about what it was like for the author to grow up on the internet ‘back when it was good’. I felt let down because I really did relate to a lot of her anecdotes and found her voice at times to be genuinely charming but it just… really lacked substance. There were points in the book where Le Conte tiptoes around actual theory before refusing to actually reference say Deleuze and Guattari or any studies on the rise of internet fascism, mental health statistics or surveillance… usually she justifies this with something along the lines of ‘I’d rather not bore you, the reader, or myself, the author’. The citations in this book then end up being the occasional news article and email correspondence with her friends who also had blogs ‘back when the internet was good’. I wish this book had either had the integrity to actually study internet culture or admit that it was a memoir and lean into the narrative of the author’s actual lived experience.