Magic and Loss: The Internet as Art - Tapa dura

"In melding the personal with the increasingly universal, Heffernan delivers a highly informative analysis of what the Internet is--and can be. A thoroughly engrossing examination of the Internet's past, present, and future."
-Kirkus, Starred Review

"Magic and Loss is an illuminating guide to the internet...it is impossible to come away from this book without sharing some of [Heffernan's] awe for this brave new world."--The Wall Street Journal

"Magic and Gain!"--Frank Wilczek, Winner of the 2005 Noble Prize in Physics and author of A Beautiful Question

"One of the writers I most admire."--Gwyneth Paltrow

"The best writing on Angry Birds you'll ever encounter."-- WIRED, #1 Summer Beach Read

"Heffernan is a gleeful trickster, a semiotics fan with an unabashed sweet tooth for pop culture...MAGIC BRINGS JOY [in this] enjoyable snapshot."--The New York Times

"Goddamn, Virginia Heffernan is brilliant."--Lenny Letter

"Heffernan is a new species of wizard, able to perform literary magic upon supersonic technology. Her superpower is to remove the technology from technology, leaving the essential art. You might get an epiphany, like I did, of what a masterpiece this internet thing is. Heffernan has the cure for the small thinking that everyday hardware often produces. She generates marvelous insights at the speed of light, warmed up by her well-worn classical soul. It's a joy and revelation to be under her spell."--Kevin Kelly, author of What Technology Wants and co-founder of Wired

"Virginia Heffernan spins the straw of the Internet into analysis that's solid gold: a brilliant book.."--Mark Edmundson, professor at the University of Virginia, and author of Why Teach? and Why Football Matters

"Readers will be enthralled by Heffernan's unique take on this popular entity. Tech-savvy readers will be drawn to this book, but the concept of technology as creative expression should also entice art lovers. Most important, readers will be encouraged to appreciate the Internet not only for its ability to connect us to one another and information but also for its beauty."--Library Journal

Just as Susan Sontag did for photography and Marshall McLuhan did for television, Virginia Heffernan (called one of the “best living writers of English prose”) reveals the logic and aesthetics behind the Internet.

Since its inception, the Internet has morphed from merely an extension of traditional media into its own full-fledged civilization. It is among mankind’s great masterpieces—a massive work of art. As an idea, it rivals monotheism. We all inhabit this fascinating place. But its deep logic, its cultural potential, and its societal impact often elude us. In this deep and thoughtful book, Virginia Heffernan presents an original and far-reaching analysis of what the Internet is and does.

Life online, in the highly visual, social, portable, and global incarnation rewards certain virtues. The new medium favors speed, accuracy, wit, prolificacy, and versatility, and its form and functions are changing how we perceive, experience, and understand the world.