PositiveThe New York Times Book ReviewFor much of the book, readers are parachuted into various moments in the history of computing, the internet, media and philosophy. Character introductions arrive rapidly, with a casualness that can slip into absurdity...The effect is slightly delirious but genuinely enjoyable. Readers are flung through a highly selective history of the philosophy of mind, landing squarely on their feet in Google’s A.I. laboratories ... His obvious loathing of the social-media-driven news coverage pursued in recent years by most media organizations does capture the fatalistic mood of the industry, but betrays a sense of nostalgia for a better era that can be hard to locate anywhere outside of Foer’s own memory. He also reveals a lack of interest in new modes of media production that were rising as his magazine fell ... Though he makes no radical or provocative case to, say, nationalize Facebook, or to break up Google, he does suggest creating a Data Protection Authority, in the mold of Elizabeth Warren’s post-financial-crisis Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and calling for government to protect privacy as it (in theory) protects the environment. Is this idealistic, plain crazy, or just impotent? The armchair technology critic — roused by Foer’s sneakily persuasive manifesto — might ask in response, with a mixture of satisfaction and despair: What does it mean that it could be all three?
