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2 Great Technology Related Books we Recommend our Readers

Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other by Sherry Turkle

How have new technologies redesigned the landscape of our emotional lives and intimacy? It is the central question of Alone Together. To answer this question, anthropologist Sherry Turkle studied our relationship with technological objects for fifteen years. She observed a tendency among pet robot users to consider them as alive and to let their pre-programmed reactions fool themselves.

A new fantasy is thus emerging, where safe and unsurprising technological substitutes could soon replace stressful and imperfect interpersonal relationships. She noted that a similar dynamic was at work in our relations with new technologies in general. Ultra-connectivity is accompanied by compulsive behaviors that jeopardize the benefits of absolute solitude, necessary for self-building.

Its surveys of teenagers reveal their increased dependence on smartphones and their tendency to prefer media coverage to one-on-one interactions – considered too risky and demanding. This captivating book has had a significant impact in the United States. It shows, with evidence, how we cut ourselves off from what is at the heart of any human relationship: otherness and its share of unpredictability, risks, and pleasures, forever inaccessible to computer systems.

Kids and screens – Opinions of the Academy of Sciences of Jean-François Bach, Olivier Houdé, Pierre Léna, Serge Tisseron

The Opinion was drafted by two members of the Academy of Sciences and two external persons whose work focuses on the immune system, cognitive development of the child, astrophysics, and psychiatry/psychanalysis respectively.

Its purpose is to “provide a measured account of the positive and negative aspects encountered when children of different ages use these various types of screens.” To meet this objective, it is proposed to “integrate the most recent scientific data from neurobiology, psychology, cognitive sciences, psychiatry, and medicine.” It is also specified that this Opinion is “at the crossroads of scientific knowledge, educational reflection, and attention to the ever-changing functioning of our society.”

We will, therefore, be confronted with both scientific content and more subjective content, reflecting reflection. Consequently, we hope to be warned as much as possible of the kind of claim we have to make, to distinguish what is within the purview of science from what is within the speculation.

The book can be divided into four parts: introduction, recommendations, arguments, and appendices. This analysis will focus on this penultimate part, even if there is something to say about all of them.

How to publish a book

Publishing your work is the process of deciding to make it public.

The writer who has finished writing his book and made the decision to publish it is about to take a new step, of which he does not necessarily have a full understanding.

Key questions to ask yourself before publishing your book.

1. Publish yourself or with a publisher?

  • Find a publisher: the hard way.
  • Publishing a book yourself: self-publishing, a long road.
  • Self-publishing: an alternative offering free access as a springboard

2. Publication in digital version on the Internet or in print?

  • A printed book is the dream of most writers.
  • A digital book in a growing ebook market.

The key rules for success

1. Have your book published by a publisher

  • Put on your side all the chances of being read.
  • Select the publishing houses on their editorial line.
  • Highlight in the cover letter what is likely to attract the attention of the first reader.
  • Send a manuscript typed by post.
  • Send a clean and well-presented manuscript.

2. Edit your book without going through a publisher

  • Self-publishing: choose the solution that reaches the broadest possible audience

Register for free and publish on a self-publishing site.

Take care of the presentation of your book so that it is pleasant to read.

Benefit from a wide audience with a community.

Follow the audience of your book on your statistics.

  • Auto edition: choose a sales platform.

Identify the services you need.

List the platforms and compare the conditions.

3. Standard advice for self-publication and self-publishing: a quality finished product

For your readers to want to go further, a careful presentation, close to that of publishing houses, is fundamental.

A cover that attracts the eye creates desire and encourages buying.

  • A professional layout.

The pages on the right (when the book is open) are the first to attract the reader’s attention.

Follow a proper organization of the first pages of your book (for a professional look but also essential to plan before asking a printer for a quote).

A back cover that encourages you to buy (for the paper edition).

 

You now know how to proceed to publish a book, make a book or create a digital book, you have the keys to self-publish or approach a publisher, choose the option that meets your expectations and successfully publish your book.

Publishing a book is essential. Promoting it and winning its audience is necessary.