An interesting component of The Age of Earthquakes is the structure of the book - the somewhat
incoherence among pages and scatter in ideas. As a reader, it became difficult
to fully develop a thought while reading, as almost every page presented its
own idea or two. In order to make meaning out of the words read, one might have
had to focus on a page at a time, disregarding what was read on the last page
and what will be read on the next.
The structure of the book mirrors
the structure of the Internet: bits and pieces of information being thrown at
the audience, with no firm connection to - or prediction of - what will be
viewed next. Much like how websites may include “related items” to watch, read,
or buy next, The Age of Earthquakes contains
related pages that all share the common theme of the impact of the Internet on
mankind. However, the items on the bottom of the screen and the pages of the
book are not all the same, each item and page has its own individual purpose
and message. Another idea to note is that the structure accommodates the length
of the human attention span, mentioned at the beginning of the book.
The purpose behind matching the
structure of the book to that of the Internet could be to exemplify the
difficulty for humans to live deeply and thoughtfully. The majority of the
human race depends on the Internet for learning information nowadays, which in
turn impacts the thought processes of people, as well.
I agree with the fact that the book was scattered but I do feel like it is meaningful that the book is structured in this way because it so closely mimics the human brain and does have a meaning and depth that is important to the text. I like the idea that each thought is not connected to the next and though at first glance it does seem this way I believe that there is some strand of connectivity. I believe that the book is organized by different social issues that are created by the advancement of technology.
ReplyDelete