jonallanson 's review for:

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

4.0

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I really enjoyed this book. It is pretty academic, so I wasn't sure going into it, but I am super interested in the development of language, and I found this a very worthwhile read. The author breaks down why we talk/write the way we do on the internet by looking at why we communicate the way we do in writing, speech, and gesture outside of the internet. And, the text rises above the tired discussions of using language wrong to assert that language grows and changes as we do, and should evolve as technology evolves. And, rather than getting bogged down in the awful debates around using mobile devices and computers too much, the discussion herein is about how we can use the new technologies available to us to better communicate things we couldn't in formal speech and writing. By allowing development of informal communication and opening access to more people, technology is changing and improving the way we communicate. So, if this sounds up your alley, you could do much worse than spending time reading this book.