Scan barcode
shanaqui's review
informative
medium-paced
2.0
Randy Malamud's Email is a bit of a meditation on email and what it can be used for, with some glimpses into the history of the medium... but mostly it's a little sceptical, a little dismissive. Now and then he gives into the wonder of the fact that we can almost immediately contact people all over the world and say anything... but mostly he harps on the fragmented focus, the lack of profundity, etc.
As someone who kept in contact with my now-wife mostly only through email for long months when they were teaching in a remote area in Finland, I think Malamud's vision is sorely lacking. I had whole 100-email threads with friends full of ideas and chatter, which is the only reason I know that after 100 emails in a thread, Gmail starts a new one. I've written stories with other people going back and forth by email.
Of course I work with boring, transactional emails every day -- and of course those emails aren't wonders of the world. But I think there's a lot more to it than Malamud's willing to see, and more history he could've dug into. I know I always harp on about Personal Stereo and Blue Jeans as being my favourites so far from this series, but I crave more books like those two.
As someone who kept in contact with my now-wife mostly only through email for long months when they were teaching in a remote area in Finland, I think Malamud's vision is sorely lacking. I had whole 100-email threads with friends full of ideas and chatter, which is the only reason I know that after 100 emails in a thread, Gmail starts a new one. I've written stories with other people going back and forth by email.
Of course I work with boring, transactional emails every day -- and of course those emails aren't wonders of the world. But I think there's a lot more to it than Malamud's willing to see, and more history he could've dug into. I know I always harp on about Personal Stereo and Blue Jeans as being my favourites so far from this series, but I crave more books like those two.
bibliocyclist's review
funny
informative
medium-paced
3.0
Julian Assange, John McCain and Umberto Eco shared a disdain for email. Would Henry David Thoreau have found a place in their club? Over 150 years ago, he observed that “we are in great haste to construct a magnetic telegraph from Maine to Texas; but Maine to Texas, it may be, have nothing important to communicate.” If that sums up your feelings on the topic, check out Email by Randy Malamud to trace the history of modern communication from the telegraph to Kathy Acker’s erotic email correspondence I’m Very Into You, Adaobi Nwaubani’s novel of Nigerian email scams I Do Not Come to You By Chance and a mailbag of equally diverting epistolary stops in between.
More...