What Just Happened

A Chronicle from the Information Frontier

By: James Gleick

Narrated by: Dan Cashman

Here’s some of what just happened: Millions of ordinary, sensible people came into possession of computers. These machines had wondrous powers, yet made unexpected demands on their owners. Telephones broke free of the chains that had shackled them to bedside tables and office desks. No one was out of touch, or wanted to be out of touch. Instant communication became a birthright.

A new world, located no one knew exactly where, came into being, called “virtual” or “online,” named “cyberspace” or “the Internet” or just “the network.” Manners and markets took on new shapes and guises.

As all this was happening, James Gleick, author of the groundbreaking Chaos, columnist for The New York Times Magazine, and—very briefly—an Internet entrepreneur, emerged as one of our most astute guides to this new world. His dispatches—by turns passionate, bewildered, angry, and amazed—form an extraordinary chronicle. Gleick loves what the network makes possible, and he hates it. Software makers developed a strangely tolerant view of an ancient devil, the product defect. One company, at first a feisty upstart, seized control of the hidden gears and levers of the new economy. We wrestled with novel issues of privacy, anonymity, and disguise. We found that if the human species is evolving a sort of global brain, it’s susceptible to new forms of hysteria and multiple-personality disorder.

What Just Happened is at once a remarkable portrait of a world in the throes of transformation and a prescient guide to the transformation still to come.©2000 James Gleick; (P)2002 Books on Tape, Inc.

Critic reviews

“A marvellous journey around our technology-drenched world ... The work of a master.” –The Independent

“Gleick’s a crack investigator who digs for the exceptional facts…. A worthy overview…on the brave new problems we’ve faced—and will face into the future.” –Detroit Free Press

“Invokes nostalgia for a simpler, more innocent time, before we took all this technology for granted.” –The Rocky Mountain News

“What Just Happened is a lively time capsule that examines the recent past—one that, not long ago, seemed fairly far-fetched.” –Columbus Dispatch

“Gleick is a writer blessed with a techie’s mind and insight. . . . As we further immerse ourselves into a plugged-in world, it would be wise to listen to what Glieck had to say back when.” —Book Street USA

"Gleick is the king of popular science writing." —Irish Times

"Gleick is one of America's leading exegete of the technological revolution that, like it or not, is taking over all our lives. He spends his at the cutting edge of computer and allied sciences, returning from the front with visions of the future." —The Observer

“Gleick’s essays remain pertinent.” —The New York Times Book Review

“James Gleick . . . is on the outer reaches of the electronic frontier . . . and [he] has mastered it.” —The Roanoke Times

“What Just Happened is a lively time capsule that examines the recent past— one that, not long ago, seemed mostly far-fetched.” —The Columbus Dispatch

Past it's prime

This would have been a great read some years ago, but the information age has progressed so rapidly that it is now largely outdated. Come back in twenty years and it will be interesting as a chronicle of the early years; now it is just old news.

Out of Date for 2005

I picked up "What Just Happened" as I recognized Gleick as the author of "Chaos". If I read "What Just Happened" first, I would hadn't read "Chaos". :-(

Simply put as the other reviewers have said, it is out of date. The last essay is 2000 or 2001 so I was surprised when I saw that it had been released in 2005.

I've been using the 'net since 1991 and I enjoyed someone else's perspective for what was happening as the rest of America discovered the 'net in the mid-90's. In his latter essays, I was just waiting for him to finish his essay as he was just plain wrong.

I might be recommended to a 'net newbie that might be interested in some historical background. Otherwise, would not. I would bet that most Audible listeners whom use Audible, i.e., the recordings aren't selected and downloaded by someone else, are beyond "What Just Happened".

Ramblings

A collection of dated essays on this thoughts about technology. Good in too many ways for historical trivia only.

Too Out of Date to Enjoy ...

Probably a fine read in 2000, or listen in 2002. Do not waste your time in 2011, as I groaned too often through the first half of the book about the claimed novelty of word processing font innovations or PDAs - while listening to the book on my 2011 I-Pad. I did not listen to the end (something I have done on only one other occasion), and don't regret it at all.