Computers and cell phones DON'T TALK BACK to us! And they don't tell us what we'd RATHER NOT HEAR, right? And, they come with WARRANTIES, and ARE EASILY DISCARDED when we are BORED with them and WANT TO UPGRADE! They also give us UNCONDITIONAL LOVE--like a dog or plant.... SO, we NEVER HAVE to "WORK on ourselves", to keep THEM happy, or to ATTRACT them in the first place!
This author, who never touched a laptop until the age of 41, and typed all his early classroom papers on a manual typewriter, and also never owned a cell phone until the same age, touches upon some insights on life without such amenities. He also never owned a TV until the age of 28, or had broadband internet until the age of 55. And never had a Facebook page until the age of 59. He brings to the topics, experiences from spending time growing up in both major urban areas (Detroit and St. Paul, Minnesota, as well as a farm); and living in San Diego, Europe, and small villages, too, like one having only 800 residents; and having lived four years in small-town Appalachian Kentucky, too.
THIS BOOK is CHOCK FULL of YouTube links to a fascinating array of videos on topics very critical to understanding Modern Man's UNHAPPINESSES--particularly, the COMPROMISE-SOLUTIONS he has arrived at.
Additionally, this book covers the crucial role of how our need and yearning for adequate housing is a massive driving force in our lives, especially in the United States, with its astronomical costs, and the true realities of urban living (vs. life in the "country").
And last but not least, this book discusses how MODERN Man (and Woman) COPES with hectic life today: especially, with use of drugs--and this including "psychiatric" drugs (tranquilizers, in particular--termed "medicines", all too often); and the OVERALL focus, these days, upon DISTRACTION, not RELATIONSHIPS.
Additionally covered is the DECLINE of RELIGIONS, as a result of technology, drugs, and science.
There is also "treatment" of the question of whether Mankind has been ADVANCING, or REGRESSING! (It provides a link to a video covering the book "Civilized to Death: the Price for Progress".)
The book caps things off with a chapter on Man's pursuit of THE "EXPEDIENT"-solution approach to life.
The author has worked in a great variety of jobs, including time in the military--where he entered, hoping to become a physician; time as an engineer; and time in an insurance company and restaurants; fifteen years' time with caregiving, and a brief period in the health care industry. He has seen, close up, a variety of hospitals, having paid 180 visits to a loved one in such places, including a nursing home, and is thus intimately familiar with their in's and out's, especially for those at the "bottom end" of the scale. And finally, he has had his own close "scrapes" in life, having almost lost his life in three car accidents, a harrowing military training experience, and a period of homelessness at the age of 30.
