Book Choice

After searching amazon for a while with the keywords "information society" and "network society," I found three titles that seemed interesting and fit this class well. The first one was The Second Machine Age: Work, Progress, and Prosperity in a Time of Brilliant Technologies by Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee, published January 20th 2014. This book is about a new onset of technology and how it is a second machine age. With the introduction of google cars and robots, the authors say that we will alter how we think about issues of technological, societal and economic progress.
The second book I chose was The End of an Absence: Reclaiming What We've Lost in a World of Constant Connection by Michael Harris, published August 7th 2014. This book talks about how soon enough no one will remember a time before the internet. The author mentions how there never is truly "free time" now because we are always on our phone and not having our own thoughts. He says those who have the rare opportunity to live through the before and after notice things that people won't even think twice about in the future, such as reaching for your phone at a bus stop or resorting to google when we don't know something. 
The third book I found was The Distraction Addiction: Getting the Information You Need and the Communication You Want, Without Enraging Your Family, Annoying Your Colleagues, and Destroying Your Soul by Alex Soojung-Kim Pang, published August 20th 2013. This book talks about how we are constantly distracted by technology and how mobile devices have invaded our lives. This book has research studies and important takeaways of how to tune into technology without tuning out. 
I ended up choosing to read The End of an Absence: Reclaiming What We've Lost in a World of Constant Connection by Michael Harris. It is a newer book so there aren't as many reviews on it, but there are enough. reading through a couple reviews it is apparent that this book is full of good information and I think it will tie in well to this class and what we are learning. It is 256 pages and has a rating of 4.5 on Library Thing.