Weightless Books

Facebooking the Anthropocene in Raja Ampat is a deeply intimate look at the cataclysmic shifts between humans, technology, and the so-called natural world. Despite the breakneck pace of both technological advance and environmental collapse, Bob Ostertag explores how we ourselves are changing as fast as the world around us—from how we make music, to how we have sex, to what we do to survive, and who we imagine ourselves to be. And though the environmental crisis terrifies and technology overwhelms, Ostertag finds enough creativity, compassion, and humor in our evolving behavior to keep us laughing and inspired as the world we are building overtakes the world we found. A true polymath who covered the wars in Central America during the 1980s and then published more than 20 CDs of music, 5 books on startlingly eclectic subjects, and a feature film, Ostertag fuses his travels as a touring musician with his journalist’s eye for detail and the long view of a historian. Wander the world both physical and intellectual with him. Watch Buddhist monks take selfies while meditating. Ponder artificial intelligence with street kids in Java. Talk sex with porn stars who have never in their lives had sex off camera. Watch DJs who make millions of dollars pretend to turn knobs in front of crowds of thousands. Play World of Warcraft on remote Asia islands with indigenous people. Shiver with families huddling through the stinging Detroit winter without heat or electricity. Meet Spice Islanders who have never seen flushing toilets yet have gay hookup apps on their smartphones. Our best writers have struggled with how to address the catastrophes of our time without looking away. Ostertag succeeds where others have failed, with the moral acuity of Susan Sontag, the technological savvy of Lewis Mumford, and the biting humor of Jonathan Swift.

Posted on Friday, December 18th, 2020 at 12:00 am.