Awards

• Long-listed for Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction 2015
• Short-listed for Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction 2015
• Shortlisted for Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction 2015.

Overview

"You are a four-dimensional human. A constellation of everyday digital phenomena is rewiring your inner life, increasingly coaxing you from your three-dimensional physical boundaries into a wonderful and eerie fourth dimension, in which there is no stable border between your digital experience and your corporeal one. But what does it feel like to be four-dimensional? How do digital technologies influence the rhythms of our thoughts, the style and tilt of our consciousness? Laurence Scott-hailed as a ""New Generation Thinker"" by the BBC-shows how four-dimensional life is dramatically changing us: by redefining our social lives and by extending the limits of our presence in the world. Blending tech-philosophy and high-low erudition, Scott stands with a rising generation of social critics hoping to understand our new digital landscape. His virtuosic debut is a revelatory and original exploration of life in the digital age."

Full Product Details

9780393353075

Table of Contents

Reviews

Here at last we have a portrait in full of our digitally extended, digitally entwined selves. With wit, intelligence, and tenderness, Laurence Scott explores the glowing, sprite-filled wonderland that we now inhabit and the silent, empty places that lie in its shadow. -- Nicholas Carr, author of The Shallows and The Glass Cage Scott's writing is exceptionally fine, and his cultural range extravagant... An astounding debut. -- Sunday Times, Thought Book of the Year A probing and elegant meditation on the digital world's 'ways of being.' Beyond the lovely precision of its diction and companionable voice, it is notable for its courage to write from inside the ambiguities and confusions of online life, to resist the easy pleasures of summary judgement. -- New Statesman Adds immeasurably to the burgeoning literature on what social media do to our innermost lives, relationships, and stance towards the world. [Scott] doesn't travel on main roads-the familiar worries about technology-but rather on hidden byways marked by imagination and metaphor, where data cannot follow. -- Carol Tavris - Times Literary Supplement

Clever, allusive, with a capacious sense of humor, the book sizzles with intelligence....it's hard not to be charmed. -- Jacob Silverman - New York Times Book Review With his joyful phrase-making and sharp eye for the follies and absurdities of wired life, Scott would be the perfect investigator to report back on what it feels like to be...uploaded. -- Will Self - Guardian Scott's writing is exceptionally fine, and his cultural range extravagant...An astounding debut. -- Sunday Times A probing and elegant meditation on the digital world's 'ways of being.' Beyond the lovely precision of its diction and companionable voice, it is notable for its courage to write from inside the ambiguities and confusions of online life, to resist the easy pleasures of summary judgement. -- New Statesman Adds immeasurably to the burgeoning literature on what social media do to our innermost lives, relationships, and stance towards the world. [Scott] doesn't travel on main roads-the familiar worries about technology-but rather on hidden byways marked by imagination and metaphor, where data cannot follow. -- Carol Tavris - Times Literary Supplement [The Four-Dimensional Human] is carefully crafted and eloquently written...A valuable book that brings a fresh perspective to the topic of life online and offline. -- Jennifer Golbeck - Science [A] rich phenomenology of living in the digital age and its radical reshaping of fundamental human experiences...Scott's sharp eye for irony and great wit make this debut a lively contribution to the conversation about the effects of the Internet on society. -- Publishers Weekly [An] elegant meditation. -- Kirkus Reviews Witty, intellectual. -- Booklist

Here at last we have a portrait in full of our digitally extended, digitally entwined selves. With wit, intelligence, and tenderness, Laurence Scott explores the glowing, sprite-filled wonderland that we now inhabit and the silent, empty places that lie in its shadow. -- Nicholas Carr, author of The Shallows and The Glass Cage In his study of our hyperactive internet age, Scott's interest lies less in the technology than in we who use it. Scott's references are admirably broad, spanning high and low culture in a layered and complex (and Samuel Johnson shortlisted) account. -- Financial Times, Best Books of the Year 2015 Scott's writing is exceptionally fine, and his cultural range extravagant... An astounding debut. -- Sunday Times, Thought Book of the Year With his joyful phrase-making and sharp eye for the follies and absurdities of wired life, Scott would be the perfect investigator to report back on what it feels like to be... uploaded. -- Will Self - Guardian A probing and elegant meditation on the digital world's 'ways of being.' Beyond the lovely precision of its diction and companionable voice, it is notable for its courage to write from inside the ambiguities and confusions of online life, to resist the easy pleasures of summary judgement. -- New Statesman [The Four-Dimensional Human] is carefully crafted and eloquently written... A valuable book that brings a fresh perspective to the topic of life online and offline. -- Jennifer Golbeck - Science Adds immeasurably to the burgeoning literature on what social media do to our innermost lives, relationships, and stance towards the world. [Scott] doesn't travel on main roads-the familiar worries about technology-but rather on hidden byways marked by imagination and metaphor, where data cannot follow. -- Carol Tavris - Times Literary Supplement Witty, intellectual. -- Dane Carr - Booklist [An] elegant meditation. -- Kirkus [A] rich phenomenology of living in the digital age and its radical reshaping of fundamental human experiences... Scott's sharp eye for irony and great wit make this debut a lively contribution to the conversation about the effects of the Internet on society. -- Publishers Weekly

Here at last we have a portrait in full of our digitally extended, digitally entwined selves. With wit, intelligence, and tenderness, Laurence Scott explores the glowing, sprite-filled wonderland that we now inhabit and the silent, empty places that lie in its shadow. -- Nicholas Carr, author of The Shallows and The Glass Cage In his study of our hyperactive internet age, Scott's interest lies less in the technology than in we who use it. Scott's references are admirably broad, spanning high and low culture in a layered and complex (and Samuel Johnson shortlisted) account. -- Financial Times, Best Books of the Year 2015 Clever, allusive, with a capacious sense of humor, the book sizzles with intelligence... [Scott is] a clearly brilliant critic. -- Jacob Silverman - New York Times Book Review Scott's writing is exceptionally fine, and his cultural range extravagant... An astounding debut. -- Sunday Times, Thought Book of the Year With his joyful phrase-making and sharp eye for the follies and absurdities of wired life, Scott would be the perfect investigator to report back on what it feels like to be... uploaded. -- Will Self - Guardian A probing and elegant meditation on the digital world's 'ways of being.' Beyond the lovely precision of its diction and companionable voice, it is notable for its courage to write from inside the ambiguities and confusions of online life, to resist the easy pleasures of summary judgement. -- New Statesman [The Four-Dimensional Human] is carefully crafted and eloquently written... A valuable book that brings a fresh perspective to the topic of life online and offline. -- Jennifer Golbeck - Science Adds immeasurably to the burgeoning literature on what social media do to our innermost lives, relationships, and stance towards the world. [Scott] doesn't travel on main roads-the familiar worries about technology-but rather on hidden byways marked by imagination and metaphor, where data cannot follow. -- Carol Tavris - Times Literary Supplement Witty, intellectual. -- Dane Carr - Booklist [An] elegant meditation. -- Kirkus [A] rich phenomenology of living in the digital age and its radical reshaping of fundamental human experiences... Scott's sharp eye for irony and great wit make this debut a lively contribution to the conversation about the effects of the Internet on society. -- Publishers Weekly

Author Information

Laurence Scott's essays and criticism have appeared in the Guardian, the Financial Times, and the London Review of Books, among other publications. A lecturer in English and creative writing, he lives in London.

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