Book review: Now for Then, By Ben Hammersley

 

Christopher Hirst
Thursday 26 September 2013 10:57 EDT
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Though the cheeriness of the sub-title - "how to face the digital future without fear" - is a trifle misplaced, this guide in 64 byte-sized chunks is packed with enlightenment for the digitally baffled.

Ben Hammersley touches on such creepy phenomena as the On-Line Disinhibition Effect (caused by anonymity and lack of visual response) and the drug-market site Silk Road, so popular that it inflated the value of Bitcoins.

The imitation of Apple products in China is taken to an extreme in the city of Kunming, which boasts a complete fake Apple store.

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