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Review
“Glossy and very personal view on virtual worlds and the people who inhabit them…highly enjoyable to read” PopularScience.co.uk
Product Description
Thanks to the Internet, it has never been so easy to become the person of your wildest dreams. Immersive 3D worlds such as Second Life and THERE.com provide an escape route from the ordinary, into a virtual world where you have the power to mould your life in any way you please. Forget about walking, wheelchair users can fly. Pensioners wipe away the pains of age, discovering youthful exuberance and making young friends once more. No wonder it has become harder than ever to honestly answer the question: who am I?
In Being Virtual, Davey Winder looks at how an increasing number of us are living part–real, part–virtual lives, and how it affects who we are. He looks at the opportunities and dangers that a virtual identity offers us, how we juggle our real and online lives, and what happens when one spills over into the other… He uses his own personal experiences to bring the issues to life, and backs them up with the real–life stories of others and testimony from the experts. Along the way, he looks at some fascinating questions such as:
- Are you a virtual liar?
- What happens when our virtual and real worlds collide?
- Why will you talk to anyone online, but nobody on the train to work?
- Why do so many middle–aged men transform into teenage girls online?
- Is it possible to have any secrets in such a connected world?
Being Virtual gives a glimpse into the future of human identity, and is a must–read for anyone who uses the Internet to enhance – or escape from – their ′ordinary′ life.
About the author
Davey Winder has been a freelance journalist for 16 years, and is Contributing Editor of the best–selling IT magazine, PC Pro. He has picked up many awards including Technology Journalist of the Year and IT Security Journalist of the Year. A founder member of the Internet Society of England and author of more than 20 books, his blog can be found at:
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Really enjoyed this book. Mainly because of the way it sets out the ideas, history and development of online living... top read
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
1 review
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
An Entirely Different Take on the Digital Environment
21 Feb 2009
Format:Paperback
Davey Winder's book manages to do something that most books on the same subject as his do not: He's very personal. Even confessional. The title of Chapter One -- Identity Crisis - sums up not just the theme of the book, but what seems to have been a driving theme in the life of Winder. Having gone from a killer career Sports manager, to a home-bound, wheelchair bound web junkie, Winder's makes the strongest case for the credibility of a digital selfhood. The best part is that he introduces the disabilities factor, which is usually only allowed a footnote in most digital reporting. In fact, I would strongly recommend this book to any organization that works with the disabilities community that has a lending library program. Aside from Winder's own accounts, there are other anecdotal stories in here of disabled persons reinventing themselves or simply recreating themselves, as is -- wheelchair and all -- in the virtual landscape. The back-story of each anecdote is poignant and well told. All of them extremely personal.
Not all of the stories of are from persons with disabilities. The others are from self-seeking souls looking for the right vehicle for self expression, which they find online.
The personal touch of the book is well balanced with an informing narrative that qualifies the book as a primer for Second Life and other Virtual World platforms. The cover of the book speaks to this element and, unfortunately, only this element. If I were to judge the book by the cover, which I initially did, the autobiographical element was not something I expected to encounter within these pages. They appeared almost as easter-eggs that wanted to be found. In that sense, the book cover is the only liability.
I'm not sure what the mood is these days on Second Life. But Winder's presents the best argument so far that this is more than just mere novelty.
[...]
Not all of the stories of are from persons with disabilities. The others are from self-seeking souls looking for the right vehicle for self expression, which they find online.
The personal touch of the book is well balanced with an informing narrative that qualifies the book as a primer for Second Life and other Virtual World platforms. The cover of the book speaks to this element and, unfortunately, only this element. If I were to judge the book by the cover, which I initially did, the autobiographical element was not something I expected to encounter within these pages. They appeared almost as easter-eggs that wanted to be found. In that sense, the book cover is the only liability.
I'm not sure what the mood is these days on Second Life. But Winder's presents the best argument so far that this is more than just mere novelty.
[...]
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