Pamela Paul is the editor of The New York Times Book Review and oversees book coverage at the Times, where she hosts its weekly book review podcast. Her previous books include By the Book: Writers on Literature and the Literary Life from The New York Times Book Review; Pornified: How Pornography Is Transforming Our Lives, Our Relationships, and Rectangle Time, a book for children. In her latest book, Paul’s musings turn to modern life and its absolute entrenchment in the digital space. Today we exist, for the most part, in the filtered and isolated corners of the internet – a place that has all at once become our local library, office, bar, movie theater, and concert hall. In 100 Things We’ve Lost to the Internet (Crown Publishing Group), Paul presents a record of all the things we long for without realizing that they’re gone, as well as the things we’re all too happy to let slip into the pre-internet past, from voicemails to civility. In these never-before-published essays charmingly illustrated by Nishant Choksi, she reflects on the small losses and the more significant repercussions, such as weaker memories, the inability to entertain oneself, and the utter demolition of privacy. While the internet has put an entire world at our fingertips, it has also taken away many of the fundamental human experiences that sustain us.
