Upcoming: THE WINTER OF OUR DISCONNECT
September 23, 2010 by Tarcher/Penguin
Filed under Books, DailyTarcher, Great Ideas.
Named one of O Magazine’s top “10 Books to Pick Up Now” (Jan issue)
Many families today are governed by a myriad of technological devices. As they scramble to get ready in the mornings, hardly a word is spoken as the kids text their way out the door and their parents jockey between an overwhelming number of new emails and voicemails.
Such was life for journalist, radio host and mother Susan Maushart. But when she realized that she couldn’t go to the bathroom without her iPhone, she knew something had to change (“I was the Amy Winehouse of Windows Live Messenger. Was it time to check myself in to rehab?”). In The Winter of Our Disconnect: How Three Totally Wired Teenagers (And a Mother Who Sleeps with Her iPhone) Pulled the Plug on their Technology and Lived to Tell the Tale, Maushart details how her family survived – and even thrived – without technology for six months.
“The author narrates her story in a breezy, irreverent style, but beneath the humor is much wisdom about what our wired world does for us and to us… an insightful tale of the digital dilemmas familiar to many families.”
—Kirkus (starred review)
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The Winter of Our Disconnect
By Susan Maushart
In bookstores: January 20, 2011
Tarcher / Penguin paperback, $16.95
ISBN: 978-1-58542-855-7
The book sounds really good. I find this cover a LOT more appealing than the earlier one I’d seen posted on goodreads. I added this image to the corresponding ISBN on the site – I hope that’s alright! I look forward to reading it when it comes out!
I think it sounds both insane and compelling. I experienced a mini version several years ago when an ice storm knocked out the power for a week. At first the kids were going berserk without their TV, computers and video games, but they rapidly learned to make their own fun. This sounds like a great read. I look forward to it.
Hi, Emily! We love this cover too. Thanks for posting it on GoodReads.
I love the title — I did a double-take then laughed out loud (LOL?)
I’ve seen versions of this scenario staged in sitcoms (but never to this degree) which is only a 30-minute exposure. I think the book will offer a lot more. And I wouldn’t be at all surprised if it was turned into a movie. After learning my 11-year-old grandson is now on Facebook, I can’t wait to read it — and pass it on to my son.
This sounds fantastic. We do something similar every summer (mainly because the kids can’t get cell phone coverage where we spend our summers) and it is amazing how freeing it it. Can’t wait to see how or if her experiences mirror ours of a much shorter duration.
I cannot wait to read this book, (which I am not normally a book reader). But I have been wrestling and contemplating the same ideas with my 3 teens and of course do not have the courage to go thru with it…. waiting impatiently for the release!!!!!
The title is what got me, of course the creativity within.
This sounds like a real “reader”. Having read “Unplugged” a few years ago, this would be an excellent follow up. We just don’t realize how much technology rules us, rather than the other way around, until we stop using it for a time. When does the tool become the master?