Reviews

Civics of Technology publishes reviews of various media—books, articles, shows, documentaries, curriculum, albums, and really anything. These reviews should put these media into conversation with our aims at CoT, such as our assumption that “technologies are not neutral and neither are the societies into which they are introduced,” our five critical questions about technology, ecological and critical perspectives, or a broader technology education lens. We hope these reviews will help educators and scholars to identify which books to read or lessons to try in their classrooms. Use our contact page or email us (dankrutka@gmail.com; mariekheath@gmail.com) to submit a review.

Books

  • Christine Rosen, 2024

    Read the review here

  • OR: “How to Hype AI in Education”

    by Salman Khan, 2024

    Read the Review

  • Narayanan and Kapoor, 2024

    Read the Review

  • Matt Beane, 2024

    Read the review

  • Nicola Twilley, 2024

    Read the review

  • Rayvon Fouché, 2005

    Read the review

  • Deb Chachra, 2023

    Read the Review

  • Cory Doctorow, 2023

    Read the review

  • Sharma & Singh (Eds.), 2022

    Read the Review

  • Paris Marx, 2022

    Read the Review

  • Nicholas Carr, 2014

    Read the Review

  • Johan Hari, 2022

    Read the Review

  • Paul Bogard, 2014

    Read the Review

Films

Beane, M. (2024). The Skill Code: How to Save Human Ability in an Age of Intelligent Machines. Harper Collins. ISBN-13 9780063337794

Review by Jacob Pleasants

Read Jacob's Review

Twilley, N. (2024). Frostbite: How Refrigeration Changed Our Food, Our Planet, and Ourselves. Penguin Random House. ISBN-13 9780735223288

Review by Jacob Pleasants

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Fouché, R. (2005). Black Inventors in the Age of Segregation:

Granville T. Woods, Lewis H. Latimer, and Shelby J. Davidson.

Baltimore, MD: John Hopkins University Press. 225 pp., $30.00

paperback, ISBN-13 9780801882708.

Review by Dan Krutka

Read Dan’s Review

Chachra, D. (2023). How Infrastructure Works: Inside the Systems that Shape our World. Riverhead Books. 320 pages. ISBN 9780593086599.

by Jacob Pleasants

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Doctorow, C. & (2023). The Internet Con: How to Seize the Means of Computation. Verso. 192 pages. ISBN: ‎ 978-1804291245.

Review by Jacob Pleasants

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Sharma, S & Singh, R (Eds) (2022). Re-understanding media: Feminist extensions of Marshall McLuhan. Duke Press.

Purchase from publisher. 272 pages

. ISBN: ‎ 978-1-4780-1787-5.

Review by Michelle Ciccone & Dan Krutka

Read Michelle and Dan’s Review

Marx, Paris (2022). Road to nowhere: What Silicon Valley gets wrong about the future of transportation. Verso.

Purchase from publisher. 272 pages

. ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1839765889.

Review by Jacob Pleasants

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Carr, N. (2014). The glass cage: Automation and us. WW Norton & Co. 289 pages. Purchasing options. ISBN-13: 978-0393351637.

Review by Dan Krutka

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Hari, Johann. (2022). Stolen Focus: Why you can’t pay attention – and how to think deeply again. Crown. ‎368 pages. Purchasing options. ISBN-13: 978-0593138519

Reviewed by Jacob Pleasants

Read Jacob's Review
Book cover for "The End of Night"

Bogard, Paul. (2014). The end of night: Searching for natural darkness in an age of artificial light. Back Bay Books. ‎352 pages. $17.99 Paperback. ISBN-13: 9780316182911.

Reviewed by Jacob Pleasants

Read Jacob's Review

(2024). Seeking Mavis Beacon. A film by Jazmin Jones and Olivia McKayla Ross.

Reviewed by Sharla Berry

Read Sharla’s Review