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as we fi nd it harder to make the time for it).
A book offers a unique opportunity to explore an idea in depth
and vet a hypothesis in meticulous detail to see how it holds up after
the initial thrill of a bold discovery has worn off. It offers the challenge
of tying many ideas together and teasing out the complexities of their
relationships to one another.
The biggest challenge in writing a book like this is that you
are writing for the future. The fi rst words you commit to the page will
likely be read by your average reader two or more years later. This
forces you to step back from the news of the moment, the trends of the
day, and take a much broader view of your subject. Technology is
changing too fast for me to write about it here in an up-to-the-minute
fashion. (As I write this, my latest speeches already contain new cases
that are too recent to make it in the book.) This forced me to focus not
on technology but on the underlying behaviors that shape our adoption
of technology and give it impact and meaning.
By understanding our behaviors, as individuals linked and living
together in the seamless web of our digital networks, I hope to shed
some light on the opportunities that lie ahead for us all.
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