Excellent book on the sociological, economic, and psychological consequences of the fourth industrial revolution.

This is an excellent book that not only goes into the depths of our loneliness but its many causes and ramifications. It's in-depth and fascinating, and it also offers a host of excellent solutions at the individual, community, workplace and national levels.

I read hundreds of books in an average year and there are always a handful that stick with me. This is one that I know will stand out for this year. Highly recommended.

I read a digital ARC of this book via NetGalley.

The Lonely Century by Dr. Noreena Hertz is a title chronicling how our generation has become the loneliest generation. The book highlights the physical and emotional consequences of loneliness such as risk for dementia, elevated stress hormone levels, connections to inanimate things, and much more. However not all is lost, as the book also encourages us to mobilize to work against the aftermath of widespread loneliness.

This book was a very interesting read. The tone was primarily somber throughout the book with some hope towards the end. It is a bit of a heavy read because of this, but it is also important to recognizing the true impact of loneliness. The book is well-researched and includes citations throughout which is helpful for e-readers to jump to. One downside is the sentence structure is similar to the way academics write, which does not make it as concise for non-academics. For example, the author utilizes many "—" to break up long sentences which can lose the reader. I also was a bit concerned by the amount of judgement there was from the writing, particularly of individuals in younger age categories. For example, the line “For those who, for whatever reason, find standard human relationships hard to forge, robots may also play a valuable role. ” came across a bit uncharitable to this reader and instead being more concise and more objective, it could be written “For those who, for whatever reason, find standard human relationships hard to forge, robots may also play a valuable role."

Similarly, this passage in the next paragraph suggests an overly simplified and uncharitable assumption:
“Generation K—the generation reared alongside Furbys and Alexas—are also likely to see their appeal. This is a generation for whom, as we’ve seen, face-to-face interaction with humans is already a growing challenge and loneliness levels are disturbingly high. For this age bracket, a robot as friend is unlikely to be too much of a stretch.”

It's unclear why the author needed to highlight Generation K despite her own research earlier in the chapter indicating that older adults came to see robot devices as friends in research. Despite this, the book highlights the importance of public, small business, and large business all contributing to addressing loneliness which I believe is an important point and underscores her thesis that we all must connect and work together to overcome loneliness.

Many thanks to the publisher Crown Publishing - Currency and Netgalley for the ARC in return for an honest review.

THE LONELY CENTURY-Noreena Hertz



I received this free for the purpose of review.

While Ms. Hertz title is intriguing the contents of the book doesn't fill you with sweetness.

Due to the electronics we now have from phones, iPads, computers, VR games, Xbox, and those are just the ones our family owns we are slowly becoming a society of people that do not know how to communicate nor do they want to try. Small things like answering the phone or making a call for an appointment is quickly becoming obsolete.

The result: loneliness, fear, creativity, friendliness and most importantly relationships are all suffering. COVID has simply exacerbated the problem. With people locked down due by government regulations first and then masks worn, individuals and families are becoming increasingly dependent on electronics which leaves them more and more on their electronics.

One real danger is in the job market where robots are replacing people and making the economy weaken because of loss of jobs. Robots from working on an assembly line to personal care robots.

As I read this book it became clear that individuals must set a boundary on themselves. The world we are living in will need to value family, people and stick with it.

What have we become??????Value people not items, relationships are what makes for true joy.

Beware of TOO MUCH screen time.

I picked up this book (free from Netgalley, so take comments with the appropriate grain of salt) because the increased loneliness I’ve seen over the last few months or, lets be honest, decades has been a concern. I’ve seen it in the desperation for human contact shown by the elderly from work, church, and the community. I’ve seen it in the lack of social skills and ability to appropriately interact with the world and the people in it shown by the teens in my community. I’ve seen it in preschoolers begging for attention as their parents stare at their phones in increased obsession…so, does this book solve this problem?
I will admit, I just asked an unfair question, the chances of one book solving the habits of decades are so infinitesimally small that they are laughable. However, it is a social ill that author Noreena Hertz attempts to alleviate. Does she always succeed? No, of course not. Does she present her arguments in a cohesive and bipartisan manner? Not always, but the attempt at fairness is there and, as one of the few books I’ve read that faces this problem head on, I do tip my hat to her courage and consideration. Definitely a book to read if you wish to understand more about the loneliness crisis and what the average citizen can do to alleviate it.

What does it take to feel connected to somebody? Connection is some thing that we thought about a lot lately especially with lack of it during the pandemic. But have we been moving to a time where connection is less than less? If so what does it mean about us as a society and as individuals. This book is an extremely informative read about connection. Enjoyed it immensely.