A review by cindypepper
Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language by Gretchen McCulloch

3.0

An interesting look at how Internet culture and linguistics have evolved over time. This is the book I'd make my not-as-online friends read, because it distills several unspoken tenets and mores of Internet-speak, such as the passive aggression of a period in an instant message or the use of tildes to communicate either enthusiasm or sarcasm (depending on which culture we're talking about). It's an interesting dissection, but because all of it already feels familiar to me (I'm in the second wave of Internet people, don't @ me), reading about your own behavior in the lens of a nonfic book gets pretty dry. Still, it's neat to read through this and witness just how much Internet culture has shaped language and vice-versa, even in the past few years.