Gray Matters

This title was previously available on NetGalley and is now archived.
Buy on Amazon Buy on BN.com Buy on Bookshop.org
*This page contains affiliate links, so we may earn a small commission when you make a purchase through links on our site at no additional cost to you.
Send NetGalley books directly to your Kindle or Kindle app

1
To read on a Kindle or Kindle app, please add kindle@netgalley.com as an approved email address to receive files in your Amazon account. Click here for step-by-step instructions.
2
Also find your Kindle email address within your Amazon account, and enter it here.
Pub Date 31 Jul 2020 | Archive Date 30 Jul 2020
John Hunt Publishing Ltd | https://www.johnhuntpublishing.com/roundfire-books/

Talking about this book? Use #GrayMatters #NetGalley. More hashtag tips!


Description

A programmer invents software to forestall dementia, but risks turning a whole generation into 'glitches'.

Can the digital networks that record our footprints hold us steady when dementia threatens to push us off the path?

This question has real stakes for data analyst Charlie Sanders. His best hope for a father succumbing to Alzheimer’s comes from assistive technology that Charlie helps design for a scrappy startup. Despite early successes, Charlie has growing doubts about the motives of each of his colleagues - the eccentric CEO in Seattle, the call center guru in India, and the Trump-loving Aussie transplant who keeps the books. His worries grow when the company takes on a clandestine client who occupies the Oval Office. Will Charlie keep his father and his country on track, or turn a whole generation into glitches?

A programmer invents software to forestall dementia, but risks turning a whole generation into 'glitches'.

Can the digital networks that record our footprints hold us steady when dementia threatens to...


A Note From the Publisher

John Gastil (PhD, University of Wisconsin-Madison) is a professor in the Department of Communication Arts and Sciences and Political Science at the Pennsylvania State University, where he is a senior scholar at the McCourtney Institute for Democracy. Gastil’s research focuses on the theory and practice of deliberative democracy, especially how small groups of people make decisions on public issues. The National Science Foundation has supported his research on the Oregon Citizens’ Initiative Review, the Australian Citizens’ Parliament, jury deliberation, and cultural cognition. His most recent book is Legislature by Lot (Verso, 2019), co-authored with Erik Olin Wright, and Hope for Democracy (Oxford, forthcoming 2019, co-authored with Katherine R. Knobloch.

John Gastil (PhD, University of Wisconsin-Madison) is a professor in the Department of Communication Arts and Sciences and Political Science at the Pennsylvania State University, where he is a senior...


Advance Praise

Gray Matters creates a dystopia that feels hauntingly close to where we are headed today. Gastil's first novel is a technological and political allegory that is equal parts, Margaret Atwood and Dave Eggers. Rich metaphors, poignant humor, and brilliant writing kept me wiping away tears from laughing, crying, or both. 

Genevieve Fuji Johnson, author of Democratic Illusion


Gray Matters is a gripping look at what may become of us as we willingly plug ourselves, and even our minds, into the Internet. Gastil’s writing is hilarious and heartfelt, foreboding and uplifting, a mass of wonderful contradictions.

David L. Williams, author of The Armageddon Dance Party


It's rare that I see a novel that captures how language slides away from us--and how confusing the once-familiar world becomes--as one enters dementia. Rarer still is the imaginative grappling with our desire to stave off Alzheimer's with technology, a feat that often shows more hubris than humanity.

Robert Schrauf, co-editor of Dialogue and Dementia

Gray Matters creates a dystopia that feels hauntingly close to where we are headed today. Gastil's first novel is a technological and political allegory that is equal parts, Margaret Atwood and Dave...


Available Editions

EDITION Paperback
ISBN 9781789045024
PRICE £13.99 (GBP)

Available on NetGalley

NetGalley Shelf App (PDF)
Send to Kindle (PDF)

Average rating from 13 members


Readers who liked this book also liked: