Annotation 1

Brende, Eric. Better Off. New York: Harper Collins, 2005. Print.


The writers main point of the book is to see if we as society are really better off with the high tech gadgets and TV's.  The author writes about how he and his wife abandoned their TV, electric stove, refrigerator and even a car to live a very modest life.  The point of the book is to see if cell phones and other technological devices really make our life easier.

"We had never noticed stars in Boston, but now they spread across the sky in their full celestial glory.  The firefly was but a small star, in terms of brightness, and when we opened the door and followed it outside, this star was released to a galaxy of stars, into which it blended almost imperceptibly."  Found on page 68.  I believe this citation says alot.  It shows that even things light the lights of a downtown city can drown out something as naturally beautiful as the night sky. 

"In the surburban world of cookie-cutter houses, strip malls and automobiles, parents were losing control of their offspring.  Instead of working together on the farm, family members went different directions- fathers to factories, mothers to baked-good stands at highway outlets, boys to traveling construction crews."  Page 41-42.  I believe this is a strong citation because it explains how the age of technology and go go go is catching up to us and the parents are losing control of the household. 

I can see many connections between this source and the other sources from the NEP.  I was drawing connections with how we have changed over time in my previous research.  This source is all about taking a step backwards into the ages where we dont't have the technology.

I plan to use this source to broaden my ideas and almost use it as an argument into the question of, what does technology do for us?  The world has had some fascinating advancements in the last 100 years and I want to break some of that down and see if it helps us or hinders us.  I want to relate these ideas to learning/information/knowledge.

The source is very reliable and credible.  The one negative it would pose, is that it is a biography.  The information could come with some sort of a bias, but that is also what I am looking for.  I want to get opinions of people, or the story of what it is like to not have the modern day amenities.

This source will connect with the other sources on my annotated bibliography because it is all about mass media, technology and how they effect society.  They are about how the advancements have mad life different for us.