It is lovely to be able to write about something joyful today, and that's because of a book I am reading, 100 Things We've Lost to the Internet, by Pamela Paul. It's a quite delightful, but also a very insightful book. I was hooked once I read one of its 100 small chapters, entitled The Period (English translation: The Full-Stop). "Is any punctuation mark less remarked on than the lowly period, the wearisome little dot whose job it is, essentially, to bring you to a full stop? Nobody talks about it."ˆ But she does, and quite beautifully.
I am now at item 25 out of the 100 little "things we've lost", and Oh! how much I agree with what she has written. Here is a selection of her 100 things to tempt you to buy the book: "The phone in the kitchen", "The family meal", "Handwritten letters", "Figuring out who that actor is", "Maps", "Eye contact".
The whole book is a splendid reminder of what we are losing each day in terms of our personal contacts in the overpowering world of the internet. Do read it! It will make you think very deeply about what we should value, and also remind us of what we are beginning to lose.
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