Glass
1st Edition
Published on 24. September 2015
160 pages
978-1-62892-429-9 (ISBN)
Description
Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.
Pause and look around: you will see that you are surrounded by glass. It reflects and refracts light through your windows; it encircles a glowing filament above you; it's in a mirror hanging on the wall; it lies shattered in a dented corner of an iPhone-you're drinking water out of a pint glass. Taking up a most common object, rarely considered because assumed to be transparent, John Garrison draws evocative connections between historical depictions of glass and emerging visions that see it as holding a unique promise for new forms of interaction. Grounded in everyday examples, this book offers a series of surprising insights into how we increasingly find ourselves living in a world made of glass.
Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in The Atlantic.
Pause and look around: you will see that you are surrounded by glass. It reflects and refracts light through your windows; it encircles a glowing filament above you; it's in a mirror hanging on the wall; it lies shattered in a dented corner of an iPhone-you're drinking water out of a pint glass. Taking up a most common object, rarely considered because assumed to be transparent, John Garrison draws evocative connections between historical depictions of glass and emerging visions that see it as holding a unique promise for new forms of interaction. Grounded in everyday examples, this book offers a series of surprising insights into how we increasingly find ourselves living in a world made of glass.
Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in The Atlantic.
Reviews / Votes
[Glass] distills the essence of a substance that offers itself as something to be looked through, giving a shine to its contents, and as something that occupies our view, as something we have to take note of and interact with. * Los Angeles Review of Books * [A] book that can be read in a fascinated hour, but will influence your reading and your looking for the next month. * Times Literary Supplement * This brilliant book takes us through the looking glass, allowing us to see an everyday material in a whole new light. Glass, no matter how transparent it may seem, is always coated with many layers of meaning. In this scintillating account, John Garrison shows how the cultural framing of glass has repeatedly opened windows to other worlds, from the microscopic depths to the far reaches of the cosmos, from the imagined futures of science fiction to the bizarro-worlds of our own bathroom mirrors. * Colin Milburn, Professor of English and Science and Technology Studies, University of California Davis, USA *More details
Series
Edition
1. Auflage
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC (Digital)
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
15 b/w illustrations
ISBN-13
978-1-62892-429-9 (9781628924299)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
John Garrison is Associate Professor of English at Carroll University, USA. Prior to teaching, he helped develop technology and marketing innovations for leading companies such as Sony Electronics, Marvel Entertainment, Yahoo!, Panasonic, and Warner Brothers Pictures.
Content
Preface
"A Day Made of Glass"
Macbeth
Minority Report
Microscopic Vision
Telescopic Vision
Earrings and Landscapes
Photography
Shakespeare's Sonnets
"Heart of Glass"
Sea Glass
Google Glass
Trademark
Microsoft HoloLens
Strange Days
A Glass, Darkly
Surfaces
"A World of Glass"
Postscript: What's in My Pocket?
Further Reading
Acknowledgements
Notes
Index
"A Day Made of Glass"
Macbeth
Minority Report
Microscopic Vision
Telescopic Vision
Earrings and Landscapes
Photography
Shakespeare's Sonnets
"Heart of Glass"
Sea Glass
Google Glass
Trademark
Microsoft HoloLens
Strange Days
A Glass, Darkly
Surfaces
"A World of Glass"
Postscript: What's in My Pocket?
Further Reading
Acknowledgements
Notes
Index
