Hyperculture: The Human Cost of Speed [Hardcover]

Stephen Bertman (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0275962059 | ISBN-13: 978-0275962050 | Publication Date: April 30, 1998

The rampant illnesses of our society--including the disintegration of the family, the degradation of the environment, unlimited commercialism, and unrelenting stress--are familiar to us all. For the first time, Stephen Bertman attempts to explain these disparate, overwhelmingly negative phenomena with a single, unifying principle: that the accelerated pace of American society is eroding the essence of our most fundamental values. In 1970, Alvin Toffler identified a psycho-biological disease he called "future shock" caused by "too much change in too short a time." Now Bertman daringly diagnoses an even more serious condition, "hyperculture," a chronic warping of morals and ethics caused by America's addiction to speed. The treatment, he argues in this book, will require nothing less than a drastic slowdown--we must reassert control over the technologies that now dominate us in order to insure a humane future for our children and ourselves. We live, according to Bertman, in a society ruled by the "power of now," a power that gives us instant gratification even as it demands our instantaneous obedience. As a result, we have adapted our lives and values to match the speed-of-light electronic technologies that surround us. But, in so doing, we have paid a high price in spirit and mind. Cut off from the wisdom of the past and too rushed to consider the consequences of our actions, we are caught up in a culture of sensationalism and transience in which the very definitions of personal identity and democracy are being transformed. Hyperculture dares to suggest that the cure for our condition lies not in an "information superhighway" or "third wave information revolution," but in the radical and painful process of decelerating our lives enough to reclaim them. It is a daunting challenge, to be sure, but one on which our happiness and even our survival depend.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“There is erudition, an excellent bibliography, and much food for thought in this book, and it does resonate with problems in American society.”–Choice

“The book is easy to read and has a broad sweep....Students and thoughful psychologists interested in communication, stresses related to time pressure, cultural change, and the effects of technology on human behavior and cognition should find useful ideas here.”–Perceptual and Motor Skills

“Impressive in its command of details and description, this book accurately describes the revolutionary social changes wrought by modern culture, and especially the instantaneous culture of electonic communication.”–Time's News

“Bertman weaves a critical, compelling, and most significant for the sociologist, multi-level analytic argument about the human dimensions of living an accelerated life. He offers insightful, thoughtful, and conservative strategies for restraining our technology, retaining our history, and regaining our senses. This book could be used as a supplemental reading in Introductory Sociology or Social Problems courses that have a social change orientation. This book could also be easily integrated into courses such as American Society, Social Movements, Technology and Society, Social Change, and Social Theory and portions could be integrated into Family or Social Psychology courses.”–The Great Plains Sociologist

“If you don't have as much time to read as you wish you had, you must buy this book. Sit down, read it slowly, carefully, and thoughtfully, and discuss it with those you live, love, and work with. Professor Bertman has his hand on the dangerously rapid pulse of a society spinning wildly out of control and rushing perilously away from the values, rituals, sacredness, and simple joys essential to health and healing. Unless we heed his carefully researched warnings about the risks of our mass hyperactivity, we may end up dying before we have ever fully lived.”–Paul Pearsall, Ph.D. Author, The Heart's Code

“Stephen Bertman focuses attention on the speedup of social and technological change that is disrupting people's lives everywhere. His book should open readers' eyes both to the urgency of the problem and to potential solutions.”–Edward Cornish Editor, The Futurist and President, World Future Society

“Stephen Bertman writes some of the most powerful prose I have ever read, and in Hyperculture surpasses all his previous efforts. This is a profound book about a profound problem facing the modern world.”–George C. Roche, III President, Hillsdale College

“With an impressive command of the myriad details, Stephen Bertman identifies the main features of the revolutionary transformations that are taking place on our time-compact globe. Then, with the sensitivity of a scholar of classical and modern civilizations, he outlines an agenda for securing a continuity of humanness in the storm of change.”–J. T. Fraser Founder, International Society for the Study of Time

“The effects of hyperculture...are powerful, thoroughly alarming and hardly understood, though experienced by all of us. Calling attention to the mechanisms and processes by which American society is being driven into frantic, and often purposeless, motion is a public service.”–Herbert I. Schiller Professor Emeritus of Communication, UC San Diego Author, Culture Inc. and Information Inequality

“True, no one can predict the future, but a few gifted minds can extrapolate past trends....Bertman gives us a wise and insightful book.”–Richard D. Lamm Governor of Colorado 1975-1987

“Stephen Bertman has written a thoughtful, provocative analysis of the importance of cultural memory. It has large implications for parents, teachers, museums, libraries, and the mass media. I certainly hope it reaches a large popular audience.”–Diane Ravitch Author of The Troubled Crusade: American Education, 1945-1980

About the Author

STEPHEN BERTMAN, Ph.D., is Professor of Classical and Modern Languages, Literatures, and Civilizations at Canada's University of Windsor.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Praeger Trade (April 30, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0275962059
• ISBN-13: 978-0275962050
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #557,562 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Stephen Bertman, PhD (Windsor, Ontario), professor emeritus of classics at the University of Windsor, is the author of seven books, including Doorways through Time (featured by the Natural Science Book Club), Eight Pillars of Greek Wisdom, Handbook to Life in Ancient Mesopotamia, and Erotic Love Poems of Greece and Rome.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book IS required reading for all Americans., October 11, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Hyperculture: The Human Cost of Speed (Hardcover)

Bertman gives us a rare blend of deep historical understanding and clarity of view of our own times. Page after page, recognition chimes go off. He has said what we have all felt in our moments of doubt about the breakneck speed of our own lives and the lives of our neighbors. I am recommending this book to all my friends and acquaintances who have any questions at all about why it is we have so much more stuff and so little satisfaction. People all over the country, who are struggling in so many ways to cope or drop out, should find help in this book.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The power of now is the current disease which afflicts us., October 22, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Hyperculture: The Human Cost of Speed (Hardcover)

Dr. Stephen Bertman, a Classicist, from the University of Windsor in Canada has shone light upon the affliction of modern culture. The speed at which we travel through our daily lives is exposed for what it is able to do. The centripital force that rips at the very fabric of society is examined from the micro to the macro and it is quite alarming to see that what we take for granted is actually part of what damages us. Technology moves faster and faster which pushes the human ability to cope with life to the limits. Culture as we know it is being changed before our eyes and it moves so quickly that we do not have time to adapt. The simplicity of a family gathering is no longer something that the power of now allows us to enjoy, but it pushes us to only live in a superficial realm. At the end there are some sound suggestions to what one is able to do to control the speed at which one travels through daily life. A must read if you are serious about learning how to navigate this constantly changing world. I have not only read the book, but have had the good experience of being a past student of this professor. He lives what he imparts in the book and in the lecture hall. The heights that I have aspired to have been in part due to his teachings. Currently I am working on a PhD in Classics.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you think there are problems in the world, you're not alone., February 24, 2008

By 

Michael Nichols "Software Engineer, Jazz Trum... (California) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Hyperculture: The Human Cost of Speed (Hardcover)

First let me say: This book is AMAZING. I highlight important passages that I want to remember for later, and I have done a lot of highlighting in this book. There are a lot of things that I find wrong with the world in general and people in particular, and this book hits every single topic I've ever thought about and many that I haven't. It gives the reasons why our society is changing and changing faster than ever before. If you've ever felt overwhelmed by the myriad of choices at the supermarket, or wondered why some people get so mad when they have to wait in line for 5 minutes, or can't understand the populace's obsession with the newest gadget, you need to read this book. Hyperculture has made me more aware of things I haven't thought about and why I do what I do. I have shared this book with my family and friends, and I feel that I've helped them by getting them to think about why they do what they do too.