Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Consider Facebook-it's human contact, only easier to engage with and easier to avoid. Developing technology promises closeness. Sometimes it delivers, but much of our modern life leaves us less connected with people and more connected to simulations of them.In 'Alone Together', MIT technology and society professor Sherry Turkle explores the power of our new tools and toys to dramatically alter our social lives. It's a nuanced exploration of what we are looking for-and sacrificing-in a world of electronic companions and social networking tools, and an argument that, despite the hand-waving of today's self-described prophets of the future, it will be the next generation who will chart the path between isolation and connectivity.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Author's Note: Turning Points (p. ix)
• Introduction: Alone Together (p. 1)
• Part 1 The Robotic Moment: In Solitude, New Intimacies
• 1 Nearest Neighbors (p. 23)
• 2 Alive Enough (p. 35)
• 3 True Companions (p. 53)
• 4 Enchantment (p. 67)
• 5 Complicities (p. 83)
• 6 Love's Labor Lost (p. 103)
• 7 Communion (p. 127)
• Part 2 Networked: In Intimacy, New Solitudes
• 8 Always On (p. 151)
• 9 Growing Up Tethered (p. 171)
• 10 No Need to Call (p. 187)
• 11 Reduction and Betrayal (p. 211)
• 12 True Confessions (p. 229)
• 13 Anxiety (p. 241)
• 14 The Nostalgia of the Young (p. 265)
• Conclusion: Necessary Conversations (p. 279)
• Epilogue: The Letter (p. 297)
• Notes (p. 307)
• Index (p. 349)

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

Clinical psychologist-and sociologist of the Internet-Turkle (social studies of science & technology, MIT; Simulation and Its Discontents) presents a cautionary tale about what she calls the "robotic moment," i.e., our current state of technological connection and societal disconnection that makes us willing to consider robots for true companionship. She tells two stories-of her research observing people with interactive but still rudimentary machines like Furbies and Paros and her experiences interviewing people (including many adolescents) about their digital habits and tools (e.g., texting, IM'ing, and Facebook). Although she tries to conclude on an up note, insisting we still have time to think carefully about how we use computers and connect to one another in an always-connected world, her tales of seniors ready to accept robot companions and kids seeking attention from parents addicted to their own Blackberries make for sobering reading. VERDICT Turkle's findings are engaging and her conclusions thoughtful (she's been called "Margaret Mead in cyberspace"). Her book is best for serious readers because those seeking livelier popular science writing might find her style here a bit dry.-Sarah Statz Cords, The Reader's Advisor Online, Middleton, WI (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publishers Weekly Review

As the digital age sparks increasing debate about what new technologies and increased connectivity are doing to our brains, comes this chilling examination of what our iPods and iPads are doing to our relationships from MIT professor Turkle (Simulation and Its Discontents). In this third in a trilogy that explores the relationship between humans and technology, Turkle argues that people are increasingly functioning without face-to-face contact. For all the talk of convenience and connection derived from texting, e-mailing, and social networking, Turkle reaffirms that what humans still instinctively need is each other, and she encounters dissatisfaction and alienation among users: teenagers whose identities are shaped not by self-exploration but by how they are perceived by the online collective, mothers who feel texting makes communicating with their children more frequent yet less substantive, Facebook users who feel shallow status updates devalue the true intimacies of friendships. Turkle 's prescient book makes a strong case that what was meant to be a way to facilitate communications has pushed people closer to their machines and further away from each other. (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

CHOICE Review

Turkle (MIT) examines the human consequences of the adoption of robotic technologies and immersion in virtual media. She bases her book's first section on extensive interviews and observations, exploring the role of robots and related simulacra in the care of others--specifically, children and the elderly. In her exploration of the ways in which machines can be used to work through psychological issues, she also makes clear that robots do not necessarily challenge users toward greater health or integration, as the robots' lack of interpersonal demands and limited needs for reciprocity seems preferable to some, and their reliability and constancy appeal to others. The second section analyzes the management of relationships with technologies like instant messaging, video chatting, and social media sites. Here Turkle problematizes the depth, sincerity, and incessant demands of an "always-on-line life," exploring how ideas about connection, identity, and memory become redefined in relation to what is technologically available. Some will dismiss Turkle's analysis as romantic or simply reflecting a generation gap, but she refuses "either-or" quandaries to ask deep questions about relationships, identity, empathy, and community in immersive technological environments. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Most levels/libraries. J. L. Croissant University of Arizona

Booklist Review

With the recent explosion of increasingly sophisticated cell-phone technology and social networking websites like Twitter and Facebook, a casual observer might understandably conclude that human relationships are blossoming like never before. But according to MIT science professor Turkle, that assumption would be sadly wrong. In the third and final volume of a trilogy dissecting the interface between humans and technology, Turkle suggests that we seem determined to give human qualities to objects and content to treat each other as things. In her university-sponsored studies surveying everything from text-message usage among teens to the use of robotic baby seals in nursing homes for companionship, Turkle paints a sobering and paradoxical portrait of human disconnectedness in the face of expanding virtual connections in cell-phone, intelligent machine, and Internet usage. Despite her reliance on research observations, Turkle emphasizes personal stories from computer gadgetry's front lines, which keeps her prose engaging and her message to the human species to restrain ourselves from becoming technology's willing slaves instead of its guiding masters loud and clear.--Hays, Carl Copyright 2010 Booklist