Although the Internet takes us everywhere in cyberspace, it usually requires us to be seated behind a desk. In contrast, the cellphone lets us walk through the world, fully connected. Cellphone explores the history of mobility in media–from books to cameras to transistor radios to laptops–and examines the unique impact of a device that sits in a pocket or palm, and lets us converse by voice or text. The restricting and liberating edge of accessibility transforms restaurants, public transport, automobiles, romance, literacy, parent-child relationships, war, and indeed all walks of life, trivial and profound. Like an organic cell that moves, evolves, combines with other cells, and generates, the cellphone has become a complex sparkplug of human life.
Customer Reviews
Good book but not what I had in mind.:
Paul Levinson is a gifted writer in my opinion. He has a lively style and conveys his ideas very effectively. When I bought this book, I thought (for some reason) that I was buying a book that recounted the development and technical characteristics of this powerful new media (the cellphone). It turned out that the book is devoted to the possibilities and potential of the cellphone along with some of the situations you are likely to encounter while using it. It compares the cellphone with other means of communication (mainly the computer with Internet access and the regular telephone) plus it presents some historical background on all these means of communication that preceded the cellphone. In the end, I am still glad that I bought and read this book.
Clear, concise examination of cellphones in society.:
A clear and approachable historical study of the impact of cellphones on society and culture, Levinson’s text is an strong contribution to an emerging field of research. Although it is in some respects, tainted by the author’s personal status, this also allows him to use his real world examples to paint a clear picture of what it is like to live in a world where you can always make contact with others, but can also always be contacted.
This is not to suggest that the text is in any way deficient in theory or research, which is woven carefully throughout the text, accompanied by an annotated and accessible Bibliography. At times it would have been helpful for referencing to be in-text, although his does digress where appropriate and helpful in-text. Levinson’s strongest appeal is that we need to consider cultural relations around cellphone use (such as accepting the desire to ignore incoming calls) and not just legislate around them. This is an important point to consider, in societies where camera and video phones can be carried and used almost anywhere, provoking not just a degree of freedom, but public and private fears around invasions of privacy.
Thoroughly readable and filled with some wonderful imagry and creative language, Levinson’s “Cellphone” is an important contribution in a time when technology is increasingly mobilising throughout our lives.
Clueless history of technology irrelevant to real world of cellphone:
This book disappoints severely. Usually Levinson is well on target, but in this book he clearly misses the mark. His examples are massively out of date - in Israel the cellphone penetration was not 75% in 2004, back in 2003 it was 105%, etc etc etc. Levinson has taken a considerable knowledge of change in technology and then applied sloppy research and bad examples to the world of cellphones. Here in Singapore we are also in the over 100% penetration rates for cellphones, and several excellent books about the real impact of cellphones - such as Rheingold’s Smart Mobs, Ahonen’s m-Profits and Kopomaa’s City in the Pocket will give you much more than this. What is most annoying, is that the book is mostly so badly off its topic.
I do not recommend this to anyone, not even fans of Levinson. Reading this book will guide you wrong. Luckily there are ample better books about the real world of cellphones. Don’t buy it.
Levinson is a McLuhan for the 21st Century:
A comprehensive look at the jangling god that rules our lives. Levinson knows exactly what he’s talking about, and his insights ring true (if you’ll forgive the pun). There’s a reason CNN, the Wall Steet Journal, and the New York Times keep turning to this guy for commentary. Anybody who’s reading Stephen King’s new novel CELL will find this a fascinating companion volume. About the only complaint I have is that this book deserved a much better cover.
Boring, myopic and uninformed:
Now for a book that’s 180 pages long, it’s BORING. This guy can ramble. And despite this he says very little in each page. It could all have been more succinct in 100 pages. He clearly knows a little about a lot about the phone but this book manages to avoid being coherent. Next he seems to write to serve the purpose of the title ensuring to find the cons in any other form of media he can bring up even if he contradicts his point by basically just describing exceptions to what his point was, while trying desperately to find pros in cellphones each and every time. These cons include computers, the internet, and blogging. These are all topics about which the viewpoint is misinformed and skewed and lacking. The book falls flat with padding from the start and apart from some info, it’s generally not worth it.
