I’ve been a fan of Sherry Turkle’s work for many years now. This is the first time I'd ever recommend an abridged version (if one exists). She really could have made the same point in 4 hours – not 14. After all, shouldn't ALL tech designers approach their work with a conscience? The 'bad' of the book is this: She goes into FAR TOO MUCH explanation to be considered a casual read, and FAR TOO MUCH commentary to be considered an academic work. While I understand the objections, I think her findings are important, and should be standard reading for anyone work in the tech field. She has gotten a lot of praise AND criticism for this book, and has proven there is a price for raising the question of morality and ethics in tech design. For example, while the tech industry is asking 'How can we take care of our elderly with robots?', Turkle stubbornly pushes the questions 'Should we be doing this? What qualities do human interaction give that can't be replaced by a robot? Are we teaching the robots how to care for the elderly? Or are we teaching people to prefer the care of robots? What is the trade off when you replace a human care-giver with a robot?' I don't agree with everything Turkle argues, but I still found it insightful. Sherry Turkle cites in great detail several case studies she's done with people interacting with robots, toys, and social media and then gives her own commentary. I would like to hear someone else read it, but there are no other choices at the moment.ĭon't buy it unless you want to listen to a robot read you something. The book is fine the audiobook is rubbish. I couldn't listen to more than half an hour without going crazy and deleting it.

Merlington's voice does not embody the former, but instead incorporates the latter in a most annoying manner. The book is meant to tell us about something we need to fix, not make us feel terrible about the problem. If you have a soul, it will take the meaning of the book and turn it into something completely disheartening. I cannot stress this enough: do not buy the audiobook. She sounds like a machine reading a script she's tired of. What didn’t you like about Laural Merlington’s performance? I want to listen to a book that doesn't sound depressing - after all, this one isn't SUPPOSED to be. The narrator not sounding like Siri or any other virtual assistant.

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

Alone together turkle